Poison: All together
by Cora1
Summary: ELF Story Complete, a bit changed. Who would poison Lucas?


Disclaimer: I do not own SeaQuest or its characters blah blah blah… you know the drill

Disclaimer: I do not own SeaQuest or its characters blah blah blah… you know the drill. 

This is Poison I, II, and III together including the ending!

I know I already posted I & II but I decided to post all 3 together so it is easier to find, yadda yadda yadda

Tim O'Neill and Cynthia Westphalen are somewhat of a couple or wish to be. I do not know when I want this to take place so make your own timeline! 

Do not get confused with Cynthia Wolenczak-Holt and Cynthia Westphalen, (Kirsten's daughter), I don't even know if that is their right names, I will try to keep Cynthia Westphalen as Cyndi, ok?

Thank you to Katequestie for beta-ing

CHAPTER 1

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Nathan woke with a start. He glanced over at the woman next to him. Kristen lay sleeping peacefully with her back to him. There was even a faint smile on her lips. Nathan smiled with her, then wondered what could have woken him up. After being in the navy for years he had become a very light sleeper. He listened carefully, all he could heard was he waves lapping gently onto the shore 150 yards away. Nathan still heard nothing so he snuggled back near Kristen and almost fell asleep again, when he heard what had woken him up in the first place. A moan filled the silent house. Nathan sighed, Lucas was having another nightmare. It had been a week since the last one. Two weeks ago, the nightmares had been bad, sometimes Nathan would sleep in Lucas's room to reassure him he wasn't going anywhere. 

After seeing and hearing his mother again, the nightmares begun. His mother had called to check on Lucas but it ended up being a screaming match at Lucas until Nathan turned the phone off. After that it became common knowledge she beat Lucas. Kristen moved in and by day they were a big happy family with friends filtering in and out but by night his old family life would take over. Past beating or the screaming fests and being left alone for days. Thankfully the worst of the nightmares had stopped or so Nathan thought.

Nathan got up and pulled on his robe and started to tie it. Kristen rolled over and looked at him sleepily through one eye.

"I'll be right back." He whispered as he went out the door. Kristen nodded and rolled back over. 

As Nathan walked towards Lucas's room he heard the moan again, it was different, usually Lucas would flat out scream and be very loud, Nathan could not remember him ever moaning when his nightmares struck. 

Nathan pushed in Lucas's door, his room was a mess as usual and Lucas lay in bed with his covers twisted at the bottom of his bed. Nathan sat on the corner of his bed and put his hand on Lucas's sweaty back.

"Lucas," he whispered, "Lucas, time to wake up." He whispered, Lucas didn't respond but started to shiver. Nathan looked at him surprised, it was a warm night and Lucas was already sweating, why was he now shivering? He felt Lucas's forehead and quickly drew back his hand with a gasp it was so hot. 

"Kristen," Bridger called. There was no response from Lucas or Kristen.

"Kristen," Bridger called a little louder, still no response from Lucas, but he heard movement from Kristen, followed by a, "what?"

"Could you come here, please?" He was surprised at how calm he sounded, he certainly didn't feel it.

Kristen padded into the room with a frown on her face, "Another nightmare?'

"More than that, he sweating, but shivering and I think he's running a fever." Bridger looked up at her worried.

"Let me get my bag, I'll be right back."

A few minutes later, she looked up and said "he's needs to go to the hospital."

Bridger nodded, but made no attempt to move, so Kristen went to the vid-phone and called the ambulance. Then she sat down and buried her head in her hands. Lucas was very sick she could tell just from a minute examination, she didn't want to worry Bridger prematurely but she was sure it was serious and he would be in a lot of pain. Lucas and Nathan had grown very close since the SeaQuest's destruction and she was glad, they both needed each other. They helped each other heal in different ways, different ways then anyone else could help including her.

Kristen knew that they both loved each other very much and they constantly worried about each too. Lucas was always worried about the Captain because he still wheezed when he ran because of the smoke he inhaled in trying to put SeaQuest down into the lava. Bridger always worried about Lucas because of his nightmares and his small knowledge of the world, sure he was a computer genius, but he had never had a taste of the real world until now.

A few minutes later, a siren could be heard and the ambulance pulled into the drive. Kristen shook herself out of her reverie and then headed out to tell the ambulance where to go. 

____________

Two hours later with Lucas settled in and being seen by a doctor Kristen watched as Nathan paced the small confines of the waiting room.

"You know that won't do any good." Kristen stated teasingly.

Bridger looked up startled and cast a glance at Kristen then continued pacing. "What could have happened? He is a healthy boy and nobody around him has been sick, come to think of it, he has been more tired out lately…" He murmured more to himself then to Kristen.

"It happens no one knows why, he just is sick, he'll bounce back Nathan, he always does." Kristen assured him.

Another hour passed and the sun could be seen coming up over the ocean, it was a beautiful sight, if anyone cared, but no one paid any attention to it, especially since the doctor walked in right then. Nathan had stopped pacing and was sitting in a plastic chair staring at the wall, his head jerked up when he saw the doctor walk in solemnly.

Kristen came in a few minutes later with two coffee cups in her hands, once she saw Nathan's face she froze. The doctor seeing her face and knowing what Nathan would have to tell her, he took the cups and set them down on the table and left, shutting the door behind them.

"Nathan…what is it?" Her face was already starting to crumble.

Nathan sighed. He searched her face as he tried to digest the news and then pass it onto her. She asked again before he sighed again and tried to answer her.

"Well…it seems that Lucas was…well…poisoned…"

"What?!"

"The doctor found traces of over the counter rat poison in his system, the doctor asked ME if I knew how it got there! He asked ME!" Bridger said starting to get mad. Like he knew, he wanted to know, but then again he was afraid to know.

"Do you think it could have been intentional?" Westphalen whispered.

"It couldn't be, he's been so happy, I mean besides his mother and his nightmares it's been great, hasn't it?" He asked questioningly with a sad expression in his eyes. "All this with his mother was too much though." He muttered as an afterthought.

At that moment, Tim O'Neill, Miguel Ortiz, Jonathon Ford, Manilow Crocker and Cynthia Westphalen barged into the small room, with the nurse behind them chastising them to leave the two inside alone. Miguel turned and gave the nurse the evil eye and pushed her out the door shutting it behind her.

"Captain, is Lucas okay? Miguel and I went to the house to pick him up to go to the base, but when you didn't answer a neighbor told us the ambulance came last night, what's going on?" Tim pushed not noticing the expression on their faces. He didn't tun until Ford cleared his throat and tapped Tim on the shoulder.

"First things first, Tim," he murmured. "Are you two alright?" he asked to the two in the room.

"Yes, were fine Commander and no Lucas is not okay, not at the moment." Bridger said quietly. 

The quietness settled over the room before Crocker spoke up. "What's wrong with him, Cap?"

The captain cleared his throat, then told them about the poison and Lucas being sick last night and being quiet over the past few days. Tim and Miguel both concurred with this, they spent a lot of time with Lucas and they noticed he had been quiet the past week or two. When he finished Cynthia hugged Kirsten then asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Who would do this to Lucas, or did he do this to himself?" She said softly, but everyone heard her and pondered the same question.

"Well I want something done, Ford, Crocker get over to the house and look for this poison, O'Neill check the computers and see where it could of come from, the doctor mentioned a specific kind of rat poison, check it out. Ortiz go with Crocker and Ford and see if anything is out of place, anything at all." With the orders passed out the crew all nodded and headed out.

Cynthia turned and asked, "what should I do?" She didn't like to be helpless.

"Do you mind staying, you and Lucas have gotten close if he wakes it would be nice for a friend to be here besides us," he said motioning to Kristen and himself. "And keep us in line will ya, with our tempers anything is possible." He said smiling for the first time in what felt like days.

"Yes, sir." Cynthia said, she still felt helpless but decided to make the best of the situation. She left the room and returned with pillows and blankets. Kristen and Nathan watched as she pulled chairs and couches together to make beds, then she turned to the two and said "I bet you two haven't slept all night, here make yourselves comfortable, I will wake you if anything happens." When neither of them moved, she reinforced her tone. "NOW."

Kristen and Nathan smiled; she was definitely a Westphalen.

CHAPTER TWO

THE SEARCH BEGINS

Ford, Crocker, Ortiz, and O'Neill pulled into Bridger's house some 30 minutes later. Tim already had his laptop hooked up to the Internex, so far he had found that the rat poison that had been specifically used in Lucas's case was very rare. It had gone out of production in the 1990's and was barely was heard of. Also it was easy to trace, when dye was poured on it, the poison would turn blue. 

So after sharing the information with his colleague's, they made a quick stop at a local store and bought some dye. 

Then began the search of Bridger's house to find the poison.

______________

After two hours nothing had turned up in the search of Bridger's beach house. When they all regrouped in the living room of the house they discussed any hypothesis's they might have. Only one made real sense and the rest of the of group slapped there forehead's when they heard what Tim had to say.

"Well, its obvious with the amount of poison in Lucas's system, he had to have ate it and it must have coated something he liked because there is a lot in his system."

"So it would have to be in the kitchen." Ortiz slowly realized. Tim gave him a startled look like duh, but refrained from saying anything, he had been on the Internex all morning while the rest of the group searched the house.

"Okay, so what is Lucas's favorite food?" Ford asked trying not to think about how dumb they had been for not thinking of the kitchen in the first place. 

"Lucas will eat anything and everything, we better check the garbage too." Miguel answered, the rest of the group crinkled their noses at the suggestion.

"So do we put dye on the all the Cap's food and garbage?" Crocker asked.

"Whatever it takes, Chief." Ford said. 

The group went into the kitchen and their eyes settled on the garbage by the fridge, then they all moved away and started on other food and cupboards.

After 10 minutes, Tim groaned and turned with a box of white powered donuts, which were slowly turning blue. 

"I think we found a winner." He joked sadly.

CHAPTER THREE

THE QUESTIONS BEGIN

"So you're telling me, one of the mildest side effects of this…rat," Nathan spat out disgusted, "poison, is blindness! You call that mild!"

"If the blindness results, how long will it last?" Kristen asked calmly.

"Well since this is rare, I can't give you a precise estimate. I can tell you that Lucas is lucky if that is all that happens, at least he hasn't had liver failure or kidney problems, but the blindness and other problems should go away as soon as the poison is out of his system." The doctor told them. Then as if he sensed the question coming from Bridger he said. "And we don't know how long that will take until we know how much he ingested."

Bridger jaw snapped shut, then turned away and asked. "Can I see him?"

The doctor's compassion showed in his eyes, he knew about Lucas's real parents and he was glad that Lucas had someone to count on. 

"Of course, only one at a time and go easy on him, when he wakes he will be groggy and if he is blind, you have to comfort him and not scare him. 

Nathan closed his eyes before he entered Lucas's room in a way to mentally prepare himself in a way he thought he could. He was wrong, one look at Lucas and his mental build up slowly slipped away. Lying in the hospital bed with IV's running everywhere and a heart monitor beeping nearby lay Lucas, so small Bridger thought he had shrunk or aged backwards. Lucas looked of a boy of 10 if lucky not as a kid of 17. Seventeen, 8 months, nine days, and 10 hours. That was what Bridger did when he sat next to Lucas's bed, he counted down the hours Lucas had been alive and Bridger realized he was blessed to know him for 1 and half years of his short life. 

Hour's later Bridger still stared at Lucas and marveled at how small he looked in the bed, it must be the way hospital beds were. He remembered when he visited his Uncle Nathan in the hospital, the proud Navy man had been reduced down to nothing in the bed and that scared Bridger more than he knew. And now it was all he could think of, his uncle did not return home from that trip to the hospital years ago and what if Lucas didn't, Nathan didn't think he could handle that. Not after Uncle Nathan, Carol, Robert and the many other friends he had had and had to bury before their time. This wasn't right! 

After seemed like hours of waiting beside Lucas, he heard voices in the hall, checking his watch he saw it was way past noon. His stomach was starting to growl and his 3 hours of sleep on a makeshift bed were not cutting it. Squeezing Lucas's hand, Bridger stood and opened the door to the hall intent on getting lunch, he would send in Kristen to stay with Lucas for a while. His plans were soon sidetracked.

Out in the hall stood Ford, Crocker, and O'Neil with his laptop, Ortiz, Cyndi, and Kristen talking, first quietly, but as the conversation went on it became louder. 

Finally O'Neill glanced up from his laptop to see Bridger step into the hallway. Over the din he asked, "Is he alright, sir?" 

The rest of the crew noticed the captain and waited for the answer with baited breath.

Bridger sighed, "he is still sleeping, did Kristen tell you what the doctor said?" At there nods, he continued, "I am going to lunch, Kristen could you sit with him?" Cyndi stepped up first.

"I will sir, I got to tell him about this awesome movie I saw last night!" She said noticing that her mother wanted to talk to Nathan. At his nod, she entered the room and pulled the door shut behind her, she was glad she would not hear what Bridger would say when he found out about what the crew had come up with. 

Nathan turned to the small group with raised eyebrows, Kristen grabbed his elbow and led him towards the cafeteria with the crew trailing behind.

_____

CHAPTER 4

QUESTIONS? ANSWERS?

"So after searching the house we found that the rat poison was from some powered donuts that Lucas must have ate, we found no other kind of tampering. We asked Kristen where the donuts came from, she said that Lucas brought them home from somewhere, do you know where, sir?" Ford relayed.

Bridger sighed and thought back, he remembered Lucas's bringing the donuts home and telling Bridger and Kristen that they were _his _donuts and they were not to touch. Which they went along with, they were just donuts, but where did they come from?

"I remember Lucas brought them home after the computer symposium…he was so excited about it before and was disappointed when he came home. It was all stuff he knew and he said he was going to get a T-shirt that read 'I went to the Duane Enterprises Computer Youth Symposium and all I got was a box of donuts!'" Bridger laughed at the memory, then sobered. "Who would have given them to him there?" He pondered more to his himself then to the group.

"Sir do you know whom ran the symposium, someone we could get in contact with?" Ford asked lightly.

"Here's the website to Duane Enterprises, nothing big, Lucas definitely must have been bored there, they are not nearly as advanced as SeaQuest or the UEO." Tim said while scrolling down the page on the laptop.

"Check the investors of the company, the founders." Bridger said suddenly. "I have an idea."

Tim pushed a few buttons then scrolled down another list. "There are many investors, supposedly the company is expected to go far in time. They are much more advanced in research then in Artificial Intelligence. Why would they have a symposium on computers if…" Tim's eyes widened as he across the name, the name that Bridger somehow knew would be there. "One Cynthia Holt-Wolenczak." He read as the rest of the crew gasped and leaned back in their chairs, digesting that last bit of information, it was clear. 

Bridger jumped up. "I am going back to the room and I want guards posted outside Lucas's room at all times, no one in or out! Got it!" At the shake of their heads Bridger spun and headed out of the cafeteria leaving his lunch untouched.

____

Upon entering Lucas's room, Bridger sat next to the boy and took his small hand in his own and squeezed.

"I am here for you Lucas and I always will be here for you, no matter what." After speaking these words, Bridger felt a squeeze on his hand. He looked up, Lucas had his eyes open, but they were vacant and untrained, Bridger knew he was blind.

"Captain…" Lucas stuttered.

"Yes kiddo, its me, how are you?" 

Lucas sighed, _not again,_ he thought. He turned towards the captain and whispered. "I can't see…again."

"_Again_? What do you mean _Again_?" Bridger stressed.

Lucas sighed again. "This isn't the first time, I take it the doctor's found rat poisoning?'' He looked through Bridger, at his quietness he continued. "I knew those donuts were not right and from Duane Enterprise's, pssh, I should of known." Lucas said to himself.

At the captain's gasp and uncomfortable movement, Lucas knew that he would have a lot of explaining to do, but right now he was to tired to do anything, so he sighed and let himself drift off again.

Bridger started to ask more questions, when he noticed that Lucas had drifted off, he knew he would have to wait. It bothered him that Lucas had kept this from him.

__

What I am going to do now? He knows who did this and I have a pretty good idea, though I could be wrong…

Abruptly Bridger stood up and wandered out the door, he noticed Tim and Cynthia sitting nearby with their heads down softly talking. He walked over to them and cleared his throat causing both to look up startled.

"Would you mind sitting with Lucas for a while? I need to talk to Ford." 

"Sure Captain, whatever you need just let me know…let us know." Tim said as Cynthia elbowed him. He smiled at her then stood, extending his hand to help her. Then they proceeded to Lucas's room and disappeared.

____

Chapter 5

It begins

Cynthia twisted her body in the hard chair that was near Lucas's bed, she wished they would get more comfortable furniture but that probably wouldn't happen in the near future. _I wonder if there is a suggestion box around here…I'll have Tim look for one when he gets back with the coffee, I hope he hurries up!_

As if reading her thoughts the door to the room opened. Thinking it was Tim, Cynthia rose to greet him only to come face to face with a nurse.

"Oh, I thought you were some one else…" Cynthia trailed off.

The nurse smiled. "Sorry, I'm just getting some supplies, don't mind me."

At that the nurse turned away and Cynthia heard Lucas moving. Turning to the bed she saw him twist and open his unfocused eyes. She knew he was partially blind from the poison so she spoke to let him know who was with him.

"Hey Lucas, I know you need your beauty sleep but aren't you over doing it?" That got a smile out of him and they chatted for a few minutes before Lucas was aware someone else was in the room with them.

"Oh, it's just a nurse getting supplies, no big deal." She felt Lucas tense and she glanced over to where the nurse was and was surprised to see she wasn't there. "Oh, never mind she must have left." Then a chill settled over her and Cynthia felt Lucas grasp her hand. Slowly Cynthia looked around the room and she then started to turn to look behind her when she saw the nurse towering over her, with her hands raised over her head with a needle in them.

"Hey!!…" Cynthia cried out before the nurse brought the needle down into her neck and pushed in the contents of the syringe. Lucas gasped and knew he was in trouble.

"Cynthia! Cyndi! Are you okay? What happened? Cyndi?" With no reply he knew what had happened. "Well, Mom what's going to happen now? She is out cold, but there is security around this whole building, how do you plan to get me out?"

"Maybe I don't want to waste time with getting you out, maybe I will just finish the job now!" Came the reply of Cynthia Holt vehemently.

"That is so not your style Mom, you always said if you are going to do something yourself do it right." Lucas said all to well.

Cynthia smiled. "I taught you well, _Son! _If that is what you want to call yourself, but enough we are moving!" With that she moved Cyndi into the bathroom and then produced a wheelchair. Lucas was surprised she was this prepared, usually his mother did everything spur of the moment and this…this her having a plan scared him. He heard her talk into walkie-talkie, a response came quickly, "Yes ma'am, I will be right there and yes he is out cold. Security is changing guards we have a 3 minute window." 

Lucas knew they were talking about Tim, Cyndi mentioned him coming, now he was worried what would happen to them, he couldn't take it if they got hurt because of him, well first who knew if he would live through this, his mother was getting crazier and crazier.

Soon Lucas heard the door open and he could make out a large shape, it was the man on the other side of the walkie-talkie. Lucas could see a little better, he was surprised that he wasn't immune to the poison yet, his mother mixed it with his food often when he was little just for fun she said. The first time he had a big dose of it, it had left him flat on his back for a month before it all exited his system, he couldn't count the number of times he had been exposed to it after. He usually never ate at home if possible.

The big man loomed over Lucas then ripped the I.V. out and lifted Lucas up, as if he were a baby and deposited him in the wheelchair. Cynthia sensing his struggles pulled out duck tape and handcuffs. Handing the tape to the man, she cuffed his wrists to the hand rests on the chair and the man wrapped the tape around his ankles, so they would not leave the bars of the wheelchair. Feeling confident Cynthia leaned over and kissed Lucas on the cheek and covered his arms and legs with a blanket. Just as she pulled her head back Lucas spit in her face. Then as he expected came the resounding slap, not from his mother but from the man.

"Treat your mother nice, you are lucky to have a mother that cares so much." The man said laughing, then he leaned over and gave her a kiss. She smiled and then started to push Lucas out the door.

They had almost made it to the front doors when Katie Hitchcock walked in, her eyes widened when she saw Lucas and started to say something. But at Lucas's shake she backed off and studied his mother, Cynthia turned and nodded then pushed Lucas out the doors and next to a big, white van, with no back windows. Lucas had felt the knife in his back through the whole hospital so he didn't utter a word in fear of someone else getting hurt.

Lucas saw Katie walk out of the hospital and get into her car. She was already trying to get connected with Ford on the comm-link. Lucas nodded and then felt his mother smack him upside the head.

When Lucas turned, his mother smiled evilly. "Pay attention, Bruce asked you if you want to sit in the back or stay in the wheelchair? Guess you'll stay in the wheelchair!" 

Bruce came over and lifted the wheelchair with Lucas in it with ease and placed him in the back shutting the door before Lucas could protest.

Lucas felt the van sink lower as the two occupants got in and shut the doors. A minute later, he felt the van move, he realized then that the wheelchairs breaks had not been set. With each corner or stop, he would roll a few inches, all he could think of, hope for was that Katie was following and getting help. 

___

Chapter 6

GOING…GOING…GONE

"Where the _Hell _is he? There was supposed to be security around this room around the clock!" Bridger yelled.

"Where is Cyndi and Tim they wouldn't leave him." Kristen asked.

With that they heard a low moan from the bathroom in the corner. Kristen ran over and opened the door, gasping in fright.

"Get me some help here! Now" She yelled when no one moved. 

Bridger rolled Lucas's empty bed over and helped Kristen lift an unconscious Cynthia onto the bed. Blood was coming from her neck and she was not responsive. Kristen ushered them out of the room and started her own examination before a doctor from the hospital entered.

"What do we have here?" The doctor said snapping on his gloves.

"Twenty-three year old female, presents with wound to the neck, looks as if something was injected." Kristen rattled off, as the doctor raised an eyebrow. "I'm Dr. Kristen Westphalen, this is Cynthia Westphalen, my daughter.

"Oh, well I am Dr. Leon Carter and I think you assessment is correct. Does she any allergies, or do you know what could have been administrated?'

"Cephtin and no I don't know what could of …well maybe we should check for rat poison…" Kirsten winced.

"You mean the same poison that was found in the Wolenczak kid?"

At Kristen's nod he rushed out to get more help. 

After confirming Kristen's theory, the crew paced nervously around the room, then as if struck, Ford stopped pacing and looked around.

"Where is O'Neill? Wasn't he with Cyndi?" 

Bridger's head snapped up. He hadn't said a word since they lost Lucas.

"Start a search of the hospital, do not leave a cover unturned, we saw Lucas leave but we never saw Tim, he's got to be here somewhere!" Bridger said with hope. Maybe Tim would know where Cynthia Holt took Lucas. They had all watched the security tape, with Lucas being wheeled out by his mother and a big man, but the tape did not show the parking lot, so they didn't even know what the car they left in looked like, or even if it was a car. How could they just walk out without raising suspicion? Bridger felt like such a fool, he shouldn't have left Lucas's side, what was he thinking? Now it was to late and now Cyndi was injured too. She was already diagnosed as completely blind. 

Ford sat back with his head against the window, he couldn't believe what had just happened. Feeling a vibration by his thigh, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his comm. He had set it to vibrate so it would not beep. Flipping it open, he was surprised to see Katie staring back at him. 

"Katie, what are you doing, why are you using the comm?"

"Jonathan, no time, I was coming to the hospital to see Lucas when I saw a nurse a pushing him out in a wheelchair, they loaded him into a van and now I am following them, but I need some backup. What is going on?" Katie said quickly.

Bridger having heard the conversation grabbed the comm from Ford and started firing questions at her.

"Katie, where are you? How far behind them are you? Was Lucas okay? Katie, Katie!" Angrily he slammed the comm shut as the signal gave out. He gave Ford a look that said, keep it open and listen. Ford nodded in understanding. 

_____

CHAPTER 7

THINGS ARE GETTING STRANGE!!

"Oh, Bruce, I think we are being followed." Cynthia Holt growled softly.

Bruce pulled over and got out of the van and went into a nearby convenience store.

Katie seeing him pull over drove by and pulled up to the nearest stoplight. Not knowing what to do she turned the corner and kept going.

While Katie figured she could just driver around the block, Cynthia knew that it was one way streets around and Katie could not get back as easily as she thought. Cynthia motioned to Bruce to come back and within minutes they drove off, leaving Katie far behind.

Katie, knowing she had been had, pulled over and attempted to contact Jonathon again. Much to her dismay she realized she grabbed her ship comm link that was short range and was only supposed to be used on the ship. If she had just grabbed her other communicator she would have had no problem. Katie sighed then turned around and attempted to get back where she started knowing she had just been fooled.

___

After a quick sweep of the hospital, Tim was found in a bathroom stall, unconscious, one quick examination found that he had just been knocked out and roughed up a little. They put him in the bed next to Cynthia, he didn't wake for a few hours.

In the meantime, after tracing Katie's call, Ford, Crocker, and Ortiz drove to her location

____

Lucas sat in the back of the van quietly, he felt the van pull over and someone get out, within a few minutes though they were on there way again. Five minutes later he felt the van pull over again and start to back up, this must be the place he thought. They had only traveled about 10 minutes so Lucas knew they weren't to far. He felt Bruce and his mother get out and a few seconds later the rear doors opened. Lucas blinked at the bright light streaming in. Bruce again lifted Lucas and the wheelchair out of the back with no problem. His mother smiled at him then grasped the back of wheelchair and started to push him to the back of some large warehouse.

"We are going to do your favorite thing you used to do when you were little and don't worry you can thank me later for getting the original." Cynthia purred in Lucas's ear.

Lucas thought and tried to figure out what she meant when they came upon and last flight of stairs, as they descended down to the lowest level, Lucas's memory took over.

_"You've ruined me!!' You made me look like an idiot! Those were important people Lucas and you just blew them off!" Cynthia, then Cynthia Wolenczak yelled at him, a boy of 11._

"But Mom they were making fun of me and Mr. Bush told me to go to bed he said I looked tired and I was, I'm sorry." Lucas said dropping his blue eyes to the floor.

_"Sorry? Sorry! Is that all you can say when you just made me look like a fool! I brag and brag about you and when I want to show you off, your gone! Good thing your father isn't here!" After a few moments of thinking she muttered again. "Yes good thing your father isn't here." Then she lunged for Lucas's arm and dragged him downstairs, all the way down to the basement. There house was very old; a fact that Lawrence and Cynthia were proud of, it was so old it had a bomb shelter. Cynthia dragged him into the small room it was lit by a bare bulb hanging down on a single string. When she plucked it on, the room mostly remained in shadows but in the middle was a single bed. It looked to be a hospital bed but at closer inspection they restraints were much bigger and obvious. There were 5 restraints, 2 for the hands and legs and one in the middle for the stomach and another could be attached for the neck and head. That night became the first of many nights and days Lucas was strapped into that bed. Sometimes just the hand straps were used but more often then not all of them were used including the head and neck. Usually he wouldn't be placed down there if his father was home but a few times he was anyway. After a while his mother installed a florescent light over the bed and would leave it on all the time even at night though Lucas had no sense of time down there. As he got older he would end up down there more and more often. He, of course, always thought it was his fault but help from Bridger and the crew he learned a lot of things wasn't his fault. _

Sometimes his mother would leave him down there for days and when he emerged he was pale and skinner then ever. That was the ultimate punishment and she loved to administer it.

Now Lucas stared at the door ahead of him, he had never told anyone about the bed, not even the captain, even though it was the cause of most of his nightmares, he never let that part of his past surface. His mother stepped out front of him and slowly eased open the door. With a flick of a switch his nightmares came true once again.

In the middle of the room was the bed with the florescent light hanging over it. It was the same exact bed, _I guess that was what she_ _meant by original,_ Lucas thought.

____

CHAPTER 8

COMING TOGETHER

A groan from Tim alerted Cyndi to him.

"Tim, Tim are you okay?" She asked hurriedly, she had been very worried about him since she had woken up. She was more worried about them then not being able to see. _I guess that's a clue that you like someone _she thought.

Tim groaned again and opened his eyes to see Cyndi staring back at him and gripping his hand

"What happened, I feel like I've been hit by a cement truck!" Tim said.

"Well, by the sounds of it, the guy that attacked was big enough to make you feel that way." She smiled.

Then as Tim watched she groped wildly at her side to find her mother's hand. Tim stared then it dawned on him.

"Cyndi, can you see?' He asked quietly as Kristen woke.

Cyndi turned back to him and stared at what she hoped was his face and frowned. Tim gasped then gasped again from pain.

"Easy, Lieutenant, you bruised quite a few ribs there, take it easy for awhile." Kristen said as he got up to exam him again. "At least your awake, I was worried about your head, you took a pretty hard knock, but all you military men have hard heads, remember that Cynth." She teased.

Tim smiled, then looked at Kristen questionably, at her shake he sank further in his pillows and sighed softly. "And Lucas?" He questioned.

"He's gone." Murmured Cyndi quietly. Tim glanced sharply at her then sank lower into his pillows and let his eyes shut, with the feeling of disappointment wash over him.

___

Ford, Crocker, and Ortiz all caught up with Katie at the convenience store that Bruce had stopped at. Katie was sitting in her car with her head down on the steering wheel. Ford walked up to the car and waved the other guys off.

"Katie?" He asked softly, she lifted her head and he could see that she had been crying. "Hey, are you okay?"

"If I hadn't turned that way, I would know where Lucas was, but no, I had to turn right. I could even see Cynthia Holt smiling at me when I turned. I Should Have Known!" She hiccuped. "It's all my fault."

"No, Katie, now we at least have a general direction to look in, before we were having the blind lead the blind." Thinking back to Cyndi he realized that was the wrong expression, especially since Katie didn't know about her.

"Come on, let's drive around and see if you see the van and then we can run the licensee number through the computers and see what comes up." Ford suggested.

At her nod, he motioned the others to get in the other car and he climbed in with her. After an hour of searching, Katie did not see the van so they headed back to the hospital.

___

CHAPTER 9

DAYS…

It had been three days, three days since Lucas's disappearance. Everyday the crew had been out looking for the van or any sign of Cynthia or Bruce Cannon, the man who owned the van. No luck so far, but no one was giving up. 

It was early morning of the fourth day when Bridger decided to take a jog, that always helped clear his head, and Lucas wouldn't be there to tell him to take it easy, especially since he wheezed. But that was all Bridger wanted, was Lucas to be there to yell at him, because no one else did, he sure did miss the kid and the separation showed him how much he loved and missed Lucas.

It was only 6 a.m. when Bridger woke to go on his jog, he walked quietly through the living room, stepping over sleeping bodies as he went. It was late when the crew had finished talking and when Nathan said good night he heard Kristen telling them that they were all staying over, it was to late for them to be driving home.

So Crocker was sleeping on the couch, Katie was curled in the window seat, Ford was in-between the couch and the coffee table. Miguel was spread in front of the entertainment system, Cyndi was in a chair and close by holding her hand was Tim with his black eye and broken glasses. Ever since Cyndi had been released from the hospital, Kristen insisted she stay at the house, to get used to the surroundings until she got her sight back. Bridger noticed Tim stayed around the house a lot too, mostly to be with her. Not that Bridger minded, having a full house took his mind off the matters at hand, at least until night came and he was alone.

The SeaQuest was docked nearby, getting repairs done and computer upgrades, she would be ready to sail the day after tomorrow, Nathan had already called Bill Noyce to let him know that he would not be on the boat when it left. He was staying until Lucas was found one way or another. Bill understood and pulled strings in the UEO, so Jonathon was Captain, until Bridger decided to come back. Bridger was very grateful.

Bridger pulled on his shoes and headed out the door. A light mist was coming off the road and the sun could be seen rising through the haze, it was to be a beautiful day.

_____

Four days since Lucas had been taken from the hospital and put into the bed. He didn't know it had been four days, he just laid there under the light and thought about everything, first he tried to keep his mind off the situation, hoping that Bridger would come for him, but as time went by it started to sink in. His mother would come in time and time again to yell and hit him. At first he just shut his mind out, like he did when he was younger and took it, but it happened so often that it started to take a toll on him. He started to believe and no matter what the captain and the rest of the crew meant to him, it did not matter any more. He knew he was worthless and just a pain to all those around him. His mother saw that she was finally getting through to him and started lengthening her lectures at him so he would memorize them and never forget.

His mother came often, she would jeer at him and tell him how pathetic his life was and how it had ruined hers. She would either tighten or loosen the straps on his bed, it depended on what kind of mood she was in.

Well four days later or what had seemed like an eternity to Lucas, the door opened again, Bruce and his mother strolled in. They were both nicely dressed and his mother had the wheelchair. 

"Time to go for a ride, Lucas." She said sweetly.

Lucas moaned and turned toward her. He was so weak from having little to nothing to eat. All they had given him was water and some stale bread, but nothing more to hold him over. Bruce undid the straps, watching Lucas closely for any moves, but he was so weak he couldn't even lift his head without getting dizzy. Bruce lifted him out of the bed and into the wheelchair, they were going to put handcuffs on his wrists again, but they saw how just sitting up made him almost pass out. 

They wheeled him out to the van and placed him in back. Within a few minutes the van pulled out of the warehouse into the early mists. 

"Oh, Lucas, just so you know, we are going to finish some business and I thought you would like to see before I finish you." Said Cynthia laughing.

'_Business, what kind of business would I need to see' _thought Lucas, then it hit him, more memories.

__

Lucas answered the phone early that morning. He was surprised to see his mother staring back at him. He had not seen her since he was sent to seaQuest.

"Mom, hi, what do you want?" He didn't really want to know. He just wanted to end the conversation. He was already remembering the beating he had received the last time he had seen her.

"Lucas," she said sweetly. "How are you? Is everyone treating you alright?"

"Yes, I send you monthly reports. Why did you call?'

Cynthia looked at her watch, then sighed. This was taking longer then she wanted. "I need you to attend a conference with me. There will be a lot of big wigs and you are just what I need.

Lucas blanched then started to shake his head no. "Mom, I'm halfway around the world and I don't want to leave the captain. I won't go." Over the phone he felt braver to say things he would never say face to face to her. 

Cynthia's face turned red and that's when the screaming started. She was so loud Bridger heard and came in to investigate. He saw Lucas huddled in the corner crying, while Cynthia still carried on. He heard all the things she said about there past. It was then he learned about the past abuse. Bridger moved to terminate the call when Cynthia saw him. She started yelling at him on how he turned her son against her. Her last statement before Bridger turned off the vid was a threat to get Lucas and the captain.

Bridger took Lucas to the police station to press charge but Lucas did not want to see her again, so they just got a restraining order against her and they hadn't heard from her since. 

"Wait! That's it.' Lucas thought. '_Were going after the captain!'_ After thinking that Lucas passed out from exhaustion. 

CHAPTER 10

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS

Ford woke with a start, he wasn't accustomed to sleeping on the floor and Crocker's hand just hit him on the head, the big man was also lightly snoring. Ford sighed and glanced at his watch, it was 6:15 a.m. Ford couldn't believe he slept in that late, usually he was up with the sun, but he had had a late night so he wasn't worried. Today he and some of the crew would have to work on the SeaQuest to get her ready to sail. He knew Bridger wasn't coming back until Lucas was found, so until then he was Captain. The thought didn't excite him as it used too. If only he was captain for another reason…

Ford wandered into the kitchen to make some coffee, he knew that would wake everyone, even if they didn't want too. He noticed a glass sitting out, Kristen and him did the dishes last night so she wouldn't have to do them later, someone must of gotten up last night and gotten a drink. Ford washed the cup and put it in the cupboard. He started the coffee and within 10 minutes Katie, Crocker and Kristen were up with him. They all sat in silence until Kristen commented,

"It's unlike Nathan to sleep this late, he is always waking Lucas up at the crack of dawn to do something, he must have been real tired." She sighed and ran a hand through her rumpled hair. "I think I'll take a quick shower, before everyone else does and you all need too!" She wandered off through the hall.

Ford, Crocker and Katie sat in the kitchen drinking their coffee quietly. Katie was gazing out the window at the birds when she spit her coffee out.

"Katie take it easy, what was that about?" Ford teased.

"The van, that's the van, Lucas's van!" She stuttered.

"Are you sure, positive?" Crocker asked, at the nod of her head he turned to the back of the house. "I am going to wake Cap up!" Within a minute he returned. "He's gone, the bed is a mess, but he is gone!"

Ford jumped up and ran into the living room. "Up people, everybody up!" All the sleeping occupants groaned and mumbled. "Up now, we saw Holt's van." 

At that Ortiz, Tim and Cyndi were up. 

"Okay people, the Captain is gone, Cyndi, you stay here tell your mother where we went, Tim and Miguel you take the car and go around the block to the left. Chief, you and I will go the other way, spread out and look for the van. After Ford explained everyone ran out, leaving Cyndi behind in their wake.

Captain Bridger had just ran around the block twice and was heading home. Up ahead a white paneled van pulled in front of him. 

After all the years in the service, Bridger's trained eyes saw the glint that came off the gun that was trained to kill him. He dove behind a parked car, but not before a bullet entered into his thigh and ripped all the way through. He landed hard on the pavement and heard tires squeal, more than one pair. He heard shouting and a loud crash. Bridger pulled himself up, using the car that had saved his life. The van was 100 yards down the road, it had crashed into a lamppost and flipped over on its side. Crocker appeared at Bridger's side.

"You okay, Cap?" He asked taking in the leg.

"Yeah, Chief, just get me to that van, Lucas could be in there." Bridger ordered, now noticing Ford crouched behind a car, Miguel was behind a tree, and Tim was behind the wheel of another car, all three were holding weapons and waiting for any movement from the van. Miguel ran over and helped the chief with Bridger, together they made a seat with their hands and Bridger held onto their necks. "That _is_ the van that Katie described, right?" He asked worried.

At Miguel's nod, Bridger gestured them to hurry and go faster.

"Are you okay, Captain?" Ford asked concerned, when he saw them arrive, but his eyes still trained on the van.

"Yes, yes get over to that van and check it out, now!" He demanded. 

Ford nodded then motioned to Tim and Miguel, the three slowly made their way up to the van. When they had almost reached it the back doors burst open and Cynthia stumbled out, she reached in the back and yanked Lucas out behind her. Lucas looked out of it, pale and unsteady, but his eyes widened as she dragged him behind a car with a gun to his head. 

"Stay back or he dies!" She ordered.

__

'Why would they care?' Lucas thought. His thoughts echoing what his mother had told him over and over the past 4 days.

"Okay, okay we'll put our guns down, just let him go." Ford shouted. At the same time, he saw a commotion behind Cynthia, Katie was hiding behind a tree with her gun drawn. Ford knew all they had to do was get Lucas away from Cynthia then Katie could get a clear shot. 

"Let him go, Cynthia, you got your revenge, it's over, leave and save your life!" Bridger yelled, he had convinced Crocker to take him closer to the action.

"It's not over, you and him are still alive! It will never be over!" She yelled back seething and clutching Lucas tighter to her.

"Fine then take me, he does not deserve this, you have done enough, I will take his place!" Bridger offered.

"Ha! You did not make my life miserable for 15 long years, he did…" A struggle had broken out between her and Lucas causing her to trail off in mid sentence.

Lucas had sat there and listened to his mother rant and rave, first he was too weak to do anything, but as he listened to the captain and her, he got madder and madder. Feeling a surge of power spawning from his anger, he twisted around and belted her in the face. She was surprised, but recovered, she hit him back and soon they were rolling on the ground. The crew came running to help him, but a gunshot went off and the two figures went still.

"NOOO! Lucas! NO!" Bridger shouted and tried to run as fast as he could to Lucas's side. Even though he was injured, Bridger made it to Lucas first and pulled Cynthia off him. Lucas lay in blood, pale and not moving. Katie was next to get there, she checked Lucas over, but could not find a bullet hole. Miguel grabbed Cynthia and found a bullet hole through her stomach. She was still alive but barely. Lucas had passed out from the effort of the past few minutes. Bridger sat on the pavement, while Ford went to call an ambulance. The neighbors, hearing the gunshot started to wander out, so the rest of the crew tried to keep them back. Kristen ran over with Cyndi in tow and examined Bridger and Lucas the best she could. Bridger didn't notice any of it, until the ambulance came and loaded Lucas on a stretcher. They tried to get Bridger into another ambulance, but he refused to leave Lucas's side. Finally they relented and let him ride with Lucas.

_____

CHAPTER 11

EPILOGUE

3 WEEKS LATER

Bridger leaned heavily on his cane as he watched Lucas out the window. Lucas was lying on the dock trailing his fingers in the water, not caring if he got his cast wet. Darwin floated under the dock, knowing better then to bother Lucas at that moment, so he just let him know he was there by floating within petting distance.

Three weeks, Bridger sighed. After the trip to the hospital in the ambulance, him and Lucas had to be split up. Bridger got his leg looked at and then was given a cane to use for 6 weeks and Lucas… Well Lucas was obviously malnourished and dehydrated, he had a high fever from the rat poison not being fully treated. He had bruises everywhere, but mostly on his wrists, ankles, and stomach, many of the bruises were small and fist shaped. It was obvious where all the bruises had come from and Bridger did not like the fact that it was that obvious Cynthia had beaten him that bad. He had one broken wrist, probably from the fight with his mother or from the handcuffs on the wheelchair. The doctors were still not sure. Lucas had slept for several days after he was brought in, not waking for anything and when he finally did wake, he rarely spoke and did everything he was told. That worried Bridger and the rest of the crew the most. 

His mother had several surgeries to repair the bullet wound, Bridger wouldn't have cared if they had just let her die, but now she was in a prison cell awaiting trial. Lucas had given a little testimony on video for the courts, he had told as little as he could so no one could know the real truth, which Bridger was working on. 

Lucas was released from the hospital 2 weeks later, he emerged pale, skinnier then ever and still very quiet. Bridger tried to make everything return to normal, most of it was, Cyndi could see again, and his leg was almost healed. The crew was back aboard SeaQuest eagerly awaiting Lucas's return but they all knew it would be a slow one. Bridger had taken to sleeping in Lucas's room again, his nightmares were back full force, and he freaked out more if Bridger turned on the overhead light. Bridger noticed Lucas liked to sleep in complete darkness, and Bridger also noticed Lucas slept with his arms stiff at his sides and his legs spread at the bottom of his bed, like he was tied down. When Lucas would have nightmares he would squirm but wouldn't move his arms and legs like he couldn't Bridger hadn't figured that out yet and he wasn't sure if he would or if he wanted to.

Lucas didn't open up to him like he used to and he didn't leave the house. He just stayed in his room and slept or walked the beach, usually Bridger was right there to accompany him, to at least let him know he was there. 

Kristen walked up behind Bridger and circled her arms around him, he jumped and turned.

"Here, take this down to Lucas and tell him its getting late he should go to bed and tell him to get his cast out of the water!" Kristen said while handing Bridger his cane.

Kristen watched as Bridger hobbled down to the beach, She saw him give Lucas the food, which he ate slowly, then gave the rest to Bridger. The boy had little or no appetite now. She sighed and headed back to the den to call Cyndi, she stopped, and she heard a sound she had not heard in weeks, she cocked her head and listened closer. Yes, there it was again, Bridger and Lucas laughing. What a good sound, then she turned and headed to the den. 

POISON II

Lucas and Bridger walked slowly down the beach. Lucas had come out walking to be by himself, but as usually Bridger tagged along. He didn't mind he liked that the captain paid attention and wanted to be there for him. They walked comfortably in silence until Bridger said:

"You know we have to talk about it sometime."

Lucas looked through his blond hair, which had fallen over his blue eyes, he sighed and nodded.

"I know, but not now okay. It's to soon."

"When will it not be to soon? It's been a month and I still don't know what has happened! No one does, except you and…and…you shouldn't carry that alone." Bridger said summing it up the best he could.

Lucas looked over at him, somewhat surprised, but then again he wasn't. "What's to know?" He started angrily. "My mother is a lunatic and kidnapped me for 4 days, she shot you and I shot her and now she is going to jail, end of story!"

"If it was the end of the story, then why does it bother you so much? You have no appetite, you never leave the house, you never call your friends, and you have nightmares every night! Obviously it is not over and there is a lot to know." The captain shot back.

Lucas ducked his head and mumbled, "you wouldn't understand."

"Try me." Was the reply.

Lucas looked at him then looked up, without realizing it they had made a circle and were back at the house. Lucas could see a car parked in the drive, flashing the captain a look, he made his way up the stairs and into the house.

Tim O'Neill and Cyndi were inside talking with Kristen over lemonade. Even though the SeaQuest had left port a couple weeks ago, the captain and Kristen had stayed behind to be with Lucas and Tim had claimed he was still recovering from his injuries. He was staying nearby Cyndi and often with Cyndi, when asked about it, he claimed he was helping her adjust with her eyesight, which now was pretty close to 100%. 

Today the two sat on the couch nervously holding hands. When Lucas and Bridger entered Cyndi rose and gave Lucas a hug.

"How are you holding up? They aren't bothering you to much are they?"

Lucas cast a look in Bridger's direction. "No, they are not that bad, but you still have an empty room for me right?" He teased.

She smiled then sat back down next to Tim.

"So is this just a social visit or…is there something else?" Bridger asked confused by their nervousness. 

The two looked at each other then Cyndi took a deep breath.

"Mom, Tim asked me to marry him and I said yes." She said quickly and smiled afterward.

Kristen was caught off guard and could only stare. 

Lucas jumped up and gave Cyndi another big hug and patted Tim on the back. 

"Congratulations!! When are you planning it? Where you going to live? This is so cool." He could barely contain his excitement, finally some happiness.

Tim and Cyndi smiled sheepishly at each other then nodded. Cyndi stood and went to stand next to Bridger.

Sir… Nathan, I was going to ask you if you would walk me down the aisle…" At that she saw Nathan's eyes moisten. "But…instead we were wondering if you would do the ceremony?" 

Nathan nodded and swallowed hard. "I would be honored to do anything you ask, congratulations." He smiled and hugged Cyndi tightly fighting back tears.

"Can I walk you down the aisle?" Asked a small voice.

Cyndi turned to her mother. "Do you think you could? I mean without bawling the whole time?" That got a laugh out of the group.

"I could try."

"I would most honored, mother." The two women gave each other big hugs and had tears in their eyes as they pulled apart.

"Do you have any other plans finalized?" The captain asked, trying to take some of the attention off the two women.

Tim turned towards him and nodded. "We are of course inviting the entire SeaQuest crew and I want Miguel, Lucas and my brother, Jeff, to be my best men." At that Lucas nodded. "It is going to be a big wedding, so we are still deciding on a place, I would like it in Vancouver, but it is quite a ways a way so we are thinking something coastal…" Tim trailed off, lost in thought.

"How about here?" Lucas asked, with Bridger thinking the same thing.

"Well…" Tim thought while glancing at Cyndi, they both looked at Kristen and Nathan who nodded their approval. "They do have a big front yard and it is coastal…" he smiled and they both nodded. "That's another decision out of the way."

The invitations went out that weekend, Kristen and Cyndi planned everything. The wedding would be in a week, when SeaQuest was in port the timing was perfect. The crew of the SeaQuest were very excited they all got time off and they all wanted to see Tim get married and they all missed seeing the captain, Lucas and Kristen. 

Another man was also happy, he had just gotten out of court, scott free, he had successful been released from all charges saying he was involved with Cynthia Wolenczak and the kidnapping of Lucas Wolenczak. All he did was plead that he had no clue what she was doing to Lucas, he claimed he thought she just wanted to see her son. And the judge bought it, all he had gotten in trouble for was beating up Timothy O'Neill in the hospital. So now Bruce Cannon was free from jail and heading to the coast to finish the job that Cynthia had started.

The night before the wedding was an eventful one, Jeff, Tim's brother had arrived a few days earlier and was staying at the Bridger household. 

(_Flashback)_

Jeff was a tall, big shouldered man, he was exact opposite of Tim, he was outgoing, had blue eyes and blond highlights in his brown hair, he was more of the outdoor type and had arrived in a red convertible. But Tim and Jeff had given each other bear hugs as soon as Jeff pulled up and began talking animatedly ignoring the others, until Bridger introduced himself. Tim turned red and started to introduce the others when Jeff interrupted.

"Let me guess, you talk enough about them when you call home, _which is every week!" _He whispered to Lucas behind his hand smiling conspiratorially. Lucas laughed and ducked his head. 

"Okay, so I take it this is Lucas, the genius, your Captain Nathan Bridger, Doctor Kristen Westphalen," Jeff said pointing to each individual as he said their names, "Darwin the dolphin would be the one in the water, right? And I have no clue who you are!" He said to Cyndi, she blushed.

"Good to finally meet you, Tim talks about you all the time." Tim blushed at Cyndi's words.

"Yeah well same with you, whenever we talk it's all about you." Jeff leaned over and gave her a big hug. "Welcome to the family." He whispered to her. Then he turned to Tim. "Congratulations and the rest of the family will be coming the night before the wedding, you know how mom is on trips, go last minute if at all possible!" The brothers laughed at the inside joke. 

__

(End flashback)

So now Jeff was in the water playing with Darwin, Lucas sat on the beach watching them play, the doctor still didn't want him in the water with the cast over his wrist. She knew he wouldn't care and get it wet and they would have to just put another one on. So he just watched instead. A few minutes later he heard the porch door open, Bridger came out with Tim behind him, they were talking solemnly. Lucas not wanting to be seen slipped behind the piano, it was going to be used at tomorrow's ceremonies, surprisingly Commander Ford asked Tim and Cyndi if he could do the music for the wedding. After he played a few pieces for them, they were pleasantly surprised and said yes immediately. Lucas could not remember seeing the commander so happy or so content when he played, it was another surprise Lucas had learned during the planning of the wedding the first of many he would soon learn. Lucas turned his attention back to the captain and Tim, they had made their way away from the house and had sat in the grass, the wind was just right so he could hear their conversation.

"You okay Tim, you looked a little green, I thought you could use some air." Bridger said while smiling, he knew exactly what was wrong.

Tim sighed. "Well, I don't know, I… I want to marry her, but…"

"Ah, cold feet, don't worry it's perfectly normal, do you feel that everything could be ending and your future is no longer clear?

At Tim's nod, Bridger's smile widened.

"As I said it is normal…when I proposed to Carol, I was the same way, the wedding just snuck up so fast and before I knew it her family was there and I felt like I was suffocating."

Tim looked at the captain in amazement, he never thought the two of them would have this conversation.

Bridger noticed his look and continued. "Did you know that I knew your father?" Tim shook his head. "Yeah, we met about 10 years ago, all he could talk about were his children: Patrick, Celeste, Jeff, Will, and Tim. I believe you had just graduated from high school, he had such high hopes for you. Patrick and Celeste were already married and he told me all the stories of the wedding and his grandchildren. He couldn't wait for you other three to get married and have kids, he knew you wanted to travel and be a translator of some sort and he was worried you would never settle down. I told him from the way he described you, the time would come when you would find your lady and stop. Your dad laughed and said he couldn't wait for that day and to be able to tell you how proud he was of you and all you had accomplished and would accomplish." Bridger laughed, lost in memory. "I don't think I met a more happier man and never stopped…I think it was a year later when he was killed…?" Bridger gazed at Tim who had his head down with tears in his eyes, he missed his father but never talked about it.

"Yeah it will be 9 years tomorrow exactly." Tim smiled soberly.

The two sat in silence for awhile, when Bridger finally broke the silence.

"I have a question…What does Jeff do? I have never heard him talk about his job?" 

Tim smiled sheepishly, "Well don't tell anyone, but…" he quickly looked around and dropped his voice, "he works for section seven." Tim smiled at the shocked look on Bridger's face. "Dad was real proud." He said sarcastically. 

"Yeah I bet, he always hated those guys." Bridger said laughing.

"I think that is why he joined, just to spite him." Tim said laughing to, the somber mood vanishing.

"Well, you better head back inside, Cyndi will think you took off," At Tim perplexed look, Bridger continued, "the night before Carol and I wed I decided to take a walk without telling her. I just wanted to clear my head, but I got back a little late and she thought I had gotten cold feet and ran off, it took hours to calm her down." Bridger smiled again lost in memories.

"Thank you, Captain…for everything." Tim said as he stood up, not knowing what to say.

"Ah…call me, Nathan, Tim."

Tim swallowed nervously. "Thank you…Nathan" It was foreign on his tongue, this was his captain after all. The two men shook hands and dusted off their pants.

"Anytime you need to talk Tim, my door is open and that is even on SeaQuest." Bridger offered.

Tim blushed and nodded then walked off to the house. Lucas came around the piano, pretending he had come from the house, but Bridger knew he had been there the entire time listening, not that he minded.

Chapter 2 

"Hey Kiddo, what are you doing?" Bridger asked as Lucas walked up and sat next to him.

"Not much, is Tim okay?" 

"He'll be fine, he just got a case of cold feet, nothing that can't be helped." Bridger said laughing. He stopped when he saw Lucas's solemn expression.

"Wanna take a walk with me?" Lucas asked looking off at the horizon.

"Sure, let's go." Bridger complied. He had a feeling Lucas might open up. The two of them headed up the beach around a small bend that hid all civilization from view. This part of the beach was much rockier and it gradually sloped upwards. Bridger and Lucas walked around jutting rocks in silence both in deep thought, after ten minutes Lucas stopped and sat down heavily. Bridger followed suit.

Both of them did not realize two pairs of eyes were watching them, waiting.

"It's been a long day, I think everyone will sleep good tonight, including you." Bridger said trying to lighten the mood, he didn't even think Lucas heard him.

"…The bed, I don't know where she got it in the first place, but she had it again…" Lucas said lost in thought.

Bridger didn't want to push but he had too. "Lucas, what bed?"

Lucas looked over at him, fresh tears already gathering in his eyes. "My mother when I was younger would punish me by putting me in a bed with straps, like a hospital bed…for days…that is my main nightmare…a bed…"

Lucas wasn't totally making sense but Bridger could piece together what he was talking about. His mother strapped him in a bed, no wonder he slept the way he did with his arms and legs always in the same place…like he was strapped down! Bridger shivered from the thought, but it made sense. Lucas continued talking about the kidnapping and his past making references to what his mother did then and what she did a month ago. Bridger sat in silence astounded. He couldn't believe this had happened to Lucas, his Lucas, the Lucas that was on a UEO sub and surrounded by the best the UEO had to offer, but he still went through what he did when he was younger and a month ago. Bridger was disgusted and so was on of the set of eyes watching them.

Lucas had all but broken down as he talked about his memories and he thought it was odd that the captain actually stayed and listened and comforted him. He always thought people never wanted to hear about it and he always kept it to himself.

"Lucas, what made you tell me all this?" Bridger asked after Lucas had quieted down.

"I heard you with Tim and I thought maybe you would listen and you would care, not like the rest of the people in my life." Lucas looked at Bridger longingly pleading with him that he was right in telling Bridger.

Bridger pulled the boy closer. "Yes, Lucas you were right in telling me, I glad you did, now we can work through this and…" Bridger trailed off as he heard a noise around the bend. He pushed Lucas into a sitting position and looked him in the eyes. "I heard something over there I am going to check it out, stay here I will be right back, I'm sure it's just the crew trying to get our attention, I'll be right back." 

Lucas leaned back on a nearby rock, letting his emotions roll out, he head footsteps behind him and turned to see the captain, but it wasn't the captain . . . it was Bruce, his mother's accomplice! Wasn't he in jail?! Lucas's thoughts all jumbled together as Bruce raised a gun and waved Lucas away from the rock back to the woods behind them. Lucas knew if he screamed he would probably be shot, but he had to stall Bruce the captain would be back soon, someone would come for him.

"Why are you doing this?" Lucas asked loudly, hoping to get Bridger's attention.

Bruce threw a glare at him and smiled wickedly. "I'm finishing the job that your poor mother wasn't able to do. I heard the stories about you and you should be long dead, all you do is cause pain." Bruce pushed Lucas forward, causing the boy to stumble and fall. As Lucas turned Bruce brandished the gun on him and narrowed his dark eyes. Lucas knew what was coming and tensed getting ready for what he knew was coming.

Bridger having walked around the bend in the beach found no one, he looked out at ocean to see Darwin jumping out of the water and landing in a big splash. The smile on his face died as he heard Lucas shout 'Why are you doing this?' Turning around Bridger ran back to Lucas as fast as he could. When rounded the bend he saw Lucas on the ground and a man standing over him with a gun. It took a minute for Bridger to recognize the man as Bruce Cannon the man who was Cynthia Holt's accomplice. He knew Lucas was in trouble. Sneaking around rocks Bridger kept his eyes on the duo and stopped short when he heard Bruce roar.

"Enough of your babbling! You ruined her life and in turn you ruined mine, it is now time for you to die!!" Bruce raised his gun and started to pull the trigger as someone tackled him from the side. The gun went off.

Kristen was talking with Cyndi about last minute plans when she heard a gun go off. Looking down the beach she remembered Lucas and Bridger walking that way about an hour ago and they hadn't returned. 'My God not again!' she thought and took off running down the beach.

"Mom…" Cyndi yelled after her confused, then glancing at Tim, they took off after Kristen with the rest of the crew in tow.

Bridger ran up and grabbed Lucas and ducked him behind a rock as they watched Jeff and Bruce fighting nearby. The gun was still in Bruce's hand, but Jeff was making sure he couldn't use it. The rolled over the rocky terrain fighting over the gun and trying to knock each other out. Lucas and Bridger watched stunned as Jeff punched Bruce repeatedly and just before Bruce went unconscious, he managed to get 3 more shots out of his gun. One shot ricocheted off the ground, another hit the rock protecting Lucas and the captain, the third shot when straight up. Jeff took one more punch and Bruce lay still on the hard ground. Jeff stood and wiped his hands on his pants and then turned to Lucas and the captain. 

"You two okay?" 

"Uh…yeah were fine, thanks, how about you?" Bridger asked amazed. He then noticed blood coming from Jeff's shoulder. Bridger scrambled up and pulled out his handkerchief and covered the man's arm.

"It's okay, it's just a flesh wound." Jeff said calmly. Then he groaned as he saw Tim, Kristen, Cyndi and everyone else running towards them. "Tim is going to kill me." He muttered to himself as the captain tried to suppress a smile.

Kristen reached Lucas first, she pulled him up and began firing questions at him. "Are you okay? What happened? Who did this? Why? Was anyone hurt?"

"Doc, we are all fine, I just got a small flesh wound, the only one we have to worry about is Bruce over there, but my people will be here shortly to pick him up." Jeff said taking charge.

Tim turned red in the face. "You knew Bruce was free and let me guess you came to wedding and to work didn't you, your people knew this would happen! Jeff, I can't believe you!" Tim grabbed Jeff's arm ignoring the wince Jeff gave he pulled him off to the side and quietly began berating him. 

Bridger smiled and then put his arm around Lucas and Kristen. "It's okay Kristen, everyone's fine, I think we should give those to some time alone." He said motioning to the brother's. With that he lead the way with Lucas and Kristen with him and the rest of the crew following behind obviously confused but not wanting to push it.

Chapter 3

The next morning dawned without a cloud in the sky. Bridger was up and around early as usual, but this time so was Katie, Crocker, and Ford. When Bridger came into the kitchen to have his morning coffee he found the trio already doing so.

"Well, you certainly make yourselves at home." Bridger said to them as he poured him a cup of already made coffee.

"Kristen told us to, Cap." Crocker replied smiling behind his cup.

"Hmm, I bet, I was just going to take a walk to get my leg going." Bridger said smiling back.

"Well Katie and I were going for a run anyway, do you mind if we join you?" Ford asked.

At Bridger's shrug, Katie turned to Crocker.

"Want to come, Chief?"

Crocker laughed and patted his potbelly. "My friend and I have a deal here, I do no harm to him, he does no harm to me."

The three laughed with him then set off for a quick walk.

By the time they got back, Kristen, Tim, Jeff, Miguel, and Ben were all up having their coffee. 

Tim and Jeff had talked a long time the night before and Tim finally forgave Jeff for working at his wedding, he did protect Lucas and that was important to him. At the end of there fight Jeff even offered to give half his paycheck to Tim, but Tim refused and hinted that instead Cyndi and him could use some honeymoon money. 

Jeff left an hour later to meet his parents and other siblings at the airport the rest of the crew, friends and family helped set up for the wedding that was to take place at 2. 

After noon none of the men were allowed past the living room, the women had taken the back of the house to get ready, Cyndi especially. So the guys all had to dress in the small closet bathroom. Only Lucas was used as a communicator between the groups, which he was not happy with. 

At 12:30 Tim's family arrived with food galore and gifts. Tim's mother and sister took over any unfinished business and the rest of the guys went outside to set up or just to be out of the way. 

At 1:30 everything was prepared, the house was ready for the reception afterward. The beach was set for the ceremony complete with white folding chairs and an arch for the ceremony to take place at, everything was set. People had started to filter in and seat themselves, Tim was getting very nervous, and Ben almost stole his watch because Tim would not stop glancing at it every 5 seconds.

Finally the music started. Commander Ford had gotten the sign to go ahead. Captain Bridger and Tim stood under the arch watching the arrivals. First came Tim's niece and nephew, the ring bearer and the flower girl. Then came Lucas and Tina, one of Cyndi's college friends. Bridger noticed Lucas liked this arrangement, he kept eyeing Tina and not believing his good luck. When Lucas reached Tim, he shook his hand and Tina gave him a big hug and a peck in the cheek, this was not planned and Tim was a little surprised. The crowd laughed at his amazed face. Next came Miguel and Tim's sister, Celeste, the two had met before and more then happy to walk together. They followed Lucas and Tina with shaking Tim's hand and Celeste giving him a kiss. Then came Jeff and Ashleigh, Cyndi's old childhood friend. Jeff was also very pleased with his partner and he gave Tim a hearty clap on the back before standing next to Miguel. 

Finally Ford changed the music and 'Here comes the bride' could be heard. The crowd all craned their heads to see the bride. There she stood with Kristen, Tim couldn't of been happier as they made their way down the aisle. Cyndi was wearing a simple dress of white with lace and she had white roses in her arms. As Kristen lead her up to Tim she exchanged a secret smile with Nathan, a smile that was not lost on Lucas and Miguel who smiled at each other and laughed silently. 

Bridger did a beautiful job with the ceremony but Lucas was getting a little bored until his favorite part came, 'Tim, do you take this women…' 

Soon it was over, Tim and Cyndi O'Neill walked down the aisle together as friends and family rained confetti over them. They ran into the house to escape the downpour of confetti and went into the bedroom to change their clothing. The rest of the guests mingled around and chatted about the ceremony, Lucas and Bridger made their way over to Ford at the piano, most the crew was there congratulating Ford on his playing. Lucas had to laugh at the way Jonathon ducked his head and blushed but he kept playing. 

The reception started and soon everyone was dancing, Jonathan took a break from the piano and tried to do the macerana with Miguel and Ben, but was laughing so hard that he had no success. Toasts were made, Tim and Cyndi did their spotlight dance, Bridger and Kristen, and Tim's parents soon joined them.

"What a ceremony. You were great by the way." Kristen said as they swayed to the music.

"You weren't to bad yourself…Lucas said you only used 2 Kleenex boxes." Bridger said with his eyes twinkling.

Kristen drew her hand away and smacked him across the chest, but had no response, she had cried a lot.

Ben, Lucas, Miguel and Katie watched the couples glide across the floor.

"Who do you think will be next?" Katie asked smiling.

"We can only hope." Lucas replied knowing whom she was talking about. Soon the dance was opened to all couple's and Ford came and asked Katie, Miguel asked a friend of Cyndi's. Lucas watched until Tina came around, and Jeff was dancing with Ashleigh, she hadn't left his sight since they had been paired together. 

An hour later came the throwing of the flowers, Cyndi stood on the porch and turned her back to the crowd. The flowers flew threw the air and landed right in Kristen's crossed arms. She looked up surprised, she hadn't even tried to catch them. She laughed and glanced at Nathan, he had his back turned at the punch table. Katie and Lucas caught each other's eyes and laughed. The rest of the crew turned to find the captain. He still had his back turned but the crowd was quiet behind him and Jonathon had even quit talking to him in mid-sentence, he turned and saw everyone staring at him, he looked around saw Kristen holding the flowers laughing at him. He finally caught on, his eyes widened, and he blushed, shoving another cracker in his mouth, he turned back to the table. Everyone laughed and continued to party. 

Finally the newly weds had to leave they were catching a plane to Paris for the 2 week honeymoon. After many good-byes and good lucks they finally left in Cyndi's clunker of a car that had cans tied on the back and a sign that said 'Just Married.' Ben and Lucas doubled over laughing as they heard the cans rattle down the street. 

POISON III

Lucas did not think it would be so hard coming home- home- he had not called a place home in a long time. Even when he lived with his parents he was never comfortable enough to call it home. Once he had called his lab home; he wished it could have been his home but once again he had been shuffled around and had lost it. But now he had a home, aboard SeaQuest with Bridger, Kristen, Ben, Tim and soon Cyndi. 

Cyndi was now officially a part of the scientific crew. Tim needless to say was very excited, as was Kristen. Lucas wasn't so sure, Cyndi and Kristen stayed apart for reasons; if they were together to long, they would be butting heads soon. Bridger agreed, though he kept his opinion to himself. 

Lucas sat in his room, the only light provided was from the aquatubes which made shadows play across the walls, soothing Lucas for whenever he was angry or confused, which he was now. Since the return to seaQuest a week ago, he had been having nightmares and always felt like being alone. The captain, Lucas, and Kristen came back to the seaQuest a week after the wedding feeling that Lucas was healed enough to come back. During their last week on shore, Lucas had opened up much more to Bridger about his past and about the kidnapping. . He joked to the captain that the one good thing about being in the bed and not moving was that his eyes healed properly without the movement. Bridger had not laughed at his joke, instead he looked sadder then ever. Bridger had helped a lot since Lucas opened up, and was always there when needed.

But it still wasn't enough. Lucas was bored and depressed. Ever since they had come back the captain and Kristen had been busy trying to catch up on everything that had happened while they were gone. Lucas was given no assignments; everyone walked around him like he was glass. Since he had nothing to do he became more bored and more depressed everyday. Also he yearned to go up to the surface again. Even though he had spent amounts of time on the boat before and did not have a problem with it, now he was going crazy. He wanted fresh air; he wanted to see the sun. But the outlook for that soon did not look good. It wasn't until two weeks after they arrived back home that something interesting happened.

__

"Lucas?" Came Tim's voice over Lucas's beeping PAL.

"Yes, Tim?" Lucas answered back a little annoyed. He was playing a game over the Internex and did not want to be interrupted. 

"You have a call from your dad, he wants to talk to you."

"Did he talk to the captain?"

"No, he asked to talk to you first."

"Umm, okay patch in my quarters, k?" Lucas said confused. He had not heard from his father for six months. He hadn't even talked to Lucas after the kidnapping. Lucas knew the captain sent monthly reports on him and he knew Bridger had tried to contact Lawrence about the kidnapping, but nothing had come of it. And now Lawrence wanted to talk after all that had happened.

After Lucas shut his game down the UEO symbol came on. Then his dad appeared. He was deep in conversation on another vid-phone. At first he didn't notice Lucas but then he looked over and his haggard face softened. He muttered a few words to the other screen then reached over and flipped it off. He sighed and looked at Lucas, neither of them spoke.

Finally Lucas began. "Dad, why…?" Was all he could think to say. 

"I'm sorry I didn't call earlier, son. I just got the message about…your mother and all. Right now I am in Barcelona, finishing a project for the officials here. I didn't check my messages until yesterday, I…I'm so sorry, Lucas." Lawrence said forlornly, he also looked embarrassed.

"Dad, it was all over the news. I know it made national news and probably world. I mean Cynthia Holt goes on rampage, kidnaps son…" Lucas paused. He did not want to start anything with his dad. "Thanks for calling, dad. Check your messages more often, will ya? Thanks again and I'll talk to you soon." Lucas assumed that was all his father had called for, to apologize that he hadn't been there again.

Lawrence looked surprised. "No, no Lucas I wanted to ask you something!" 

Lucas drew his hand away from the terminate button on the screen. He looked at his father suspiciously. "What?"

Lawrence sighed and tried to figure out a way to begin. After a few moments he blurted out. "I want you to come to Barcelona. I am almost done with this project. I was wondering if we could spend some time together to make up for all the lost time." Lawrence said in one breath.

Now it was Lucas's turn to think of something to say. He sat there speechless until he managed out, "Are you sure?"

Lawrence finally smiled and nodded. "Yes, Lucas. I want us to start over. I know I've been a horrible father but I think I can make it up. What do you say?"

__

'He didn't even ask if I was okay' that was the first thought in Lucas's head, but maybe this time together could change Lawrence to be the dad that Lucas wanted. What did he have to lose? There was the possibility that he could get disappointed again, but…maybe his father would sincerely try this time. He had to see. 

"Okay, dad. I'll talk to Bridger about it and get back to you." Lawrence nodded happily, then told Lucas to call whenever he wanted; he would take all calls from him. Then they planned when would be a good time for Lucas to come and how long he would stay. Lucas even started to look at airline tickets online while he was still talking to his father. Finally they ended the call and Lucas got ready to talk to the captain. 

__

Lucas chose to wait until he knew the captain would be in his quarters and would not be distracted.

That night Lucas walked to the captain's room and knocked on the door. He heard a gruff 'Come in," so he pushed open the door and closed it softly behind him. He waited until the captain looked up.

Bridger was surprised it was Lucas. The boy visited him often at night, but it was usually after a nightmare, when he was shaken up and looked like he had been through hell and back. Tonight, though Lucas stood quietly with something obviously on his mind. 

"What's on your mind, kiddo?" Bridger said as he took off his reading glasses. Lucas shuffled around and came closer until he turned and sat on the captain's bed.

Lucas knew the captain would not like what he was going to tell him. Over the past months, the captain had become more of his dad then Lawrence had ever been. He felt like he was betraying the captain by visiting Lawrence. He took a deep breath and began.

"My dad called today."

"Really? Tim didn't tell me. Usually he talks to me. What did he want?" Lucas could tell Bridger was getting suspicious." 

Lucas started to fidget. "Umm…he just read about the kidnapping…" At that Bridger snorted, then quieted down. He could tell that Lucas still had something to say.

"And?" Bridger prodded.

"And he wants me to go to Barcelona to stay with him for a while, so we can start over and have a real relationship." Lucas finished and looked at the captain expectantly. He watched as emotions flitted across the captain's face. First anger, then confusion, then lastly sadness. His eyes lost a little of their brightness.

"Oh." Was all the captain said as he sat back in his chair, "how long?"

"Dad was thinking 3 weeks, depending on how we get a long." Lucas said quietly. 

"A month!" He muttered, then sighed. It might be good for Lucas; everyone knew Lucas and his dad did not have a good relationship. Who was he to stand in their way and stop them from forming one? But he would miss Lucas greatly. He was like another son and he couldn't bare to lose him, not after everything that had happened in the last two months. Bridger had even gotten used to sleeping on the floor since, they had returned to seaQuest. Lucas usually had nightmare every night and would come to the captain. He would usually take the bed, while the captain got the floor. Even though Lucas did not come at night under the best circumstances, Bridger loved the times he did come. It gave him peace that he could calm the boy and watch him sleep. 

"Okay." Lucas looked up as the captain spoke. He thought Bridger would put up more resistance. "When do you plan on leaving?" 

"Ben is making a supply run in two days. I was thinking I could go then and catch a flight out of there to Barcelona."

"Two days, that soon?" Bridger looked lost in thought then he nodded. "Two days it is."

___

Lucas sat by the moonpool two days later. He hadn't told anybody he was leaving. Only the captain knew, and he didn't think to say anything to anybody. He assumed Lucas would tell everyone. Lucas had told Ben that he was going to ride along with him on the supply run and Bridger confirmed it, so Ben knew but he was very busy with all the supplies he had to pick up and drop off, so he didn't think anything of it. 

Lucas sat on the edge of the pool, trailing his hand in the water absently. Soon Darwin glided in. Lucas didn't have the vocorder on so Darwin's whistles and clicks went untranslated. "Hey buddy. I am leaving for awhile okay? Keep an eye on Bridger for me and make sure he plays with you once in a while." Lucas said as he stroked Darwin's melon affectionately. Then he turned and left with Darwin whistling behind him.

Bridger was on the bridge when Ben contacted him about last minute supplies. After making sure Ben had everything, Bridger remembered Lucas was leaving. He had to say goodbye!

Bridger ran through the clam doors yelling to Ford that he had command. Bridger ran through the halls and through milling crewmembers, ignoring everyone around him. He had to make it to the launch before it took off. When he reached an empty hallway, he stopped and put his hands on his knees leaning over. _'Who put the Launch bay so far from the bridge? I guess_ _that would be me!'_ Bridger thought as he wheezed. He didn't know how he passed the physical to get on board; he figured some strings were pulled in the UEO to make sure he made it. 

Lucas turned to walk down the hallway to the launch bay when he saw the captain bent over, wheezing. _'He forgot,'_ Lucas thought _'and now he's trying_ _to catch up.'_ Lucas plastered on a phony smile and stepped up. He slapped the captain on the back, making him jump. "Doing your afternoon run?" Lucas asked jokingly. 

The captain smiled and caught his breath. "Yeah that's it, you know me, never out of shape!"

"Uh huh, and that's why you are taking a rest in the middle of the ship. I don't think you made it very far." Lucas said as he hoisted his duffel bag over his shoulder again and started to walk.

Bridger noticed the bag and his eyes bulged at the size of it. "Uh, Lucas, aren't you over packing? It's only three weeks right?" He asked worried.

Lucas blushed. "Yeah, well, I didn't want to forget anything and…I don't know; it could be a long three weeks." He said vaguely. He missed the sad look that crossed over the captain's face.

They finally made it to the launch bay when Lucas set down his bag. One of the crew picked it up and stored it on the launch. Bridger took Lucas by his shoulders.

"Lucas… I want you to call when you get there and call whenever you want to, I want updates. Remember that you are still not 100% health wise, so don't do anything crazy. Call me. Tell your dad hi. I hope you get everything you want. Call me for anything. And here…" Bridger pulled something out of his pocket and gave it to Lucas. "Open it when you are bored or…lonely" he said quietly. "I'll miss you, kiddo. Call me."

With that he pulled Lucas into a big hug. Lucas was stunned at first by the emotions the captain was displaying, but whole heartily returned the hug. They hugged for a few minutes, some of the crew stopping to stare. When they released they both had tears. 

"Thank you, Captain, for everything. I'll call." He said smiling, then he turned and got on the launch before his tears could fall. He felt in his pants for the papers, the papers that would be the most important reason he visited his dad. 

Lucas sat in his seat and waited for the launch to leave. When it finally left its berth, Lucas watched as seaQuest got smaller and smaller. He felt his heart drop. He was leaving his home. He stared glumly out the window until he couldn't any more. It hurt too much. Not only had he left his friends, but also he had chosen to leave his friends. Now he wanted to turn back, but it was to late. Feeling very lonely he pulled the package that Bridger had given him and unwrapped it. It was two pictures in frames. The first was the crew at Tim and Cyndi's wedding. Jonathon was sitting at the piano with Katie, and Tim and Cyndi were directly behind them. On their sides flanked the rest of the crew and down in the corner were Lucas and Bridger smiling with their arms on each other's shoulders. The next picture was of just Lucas and Bridger at the wedding with the ocean behind them, during sunset. Lucas remembered when the picture was taken. They had been watching Darwin play, and Bridger had let Lucas have a little alcohol. It had been a great time and Lucas felt better as he looked at the two pictures and got ready to get off the launch as he felt it dock.

___

  
Bridger sat on the bridge with his mind a million miles away. The crew noticed this, but didn't say anything. They didn't know what could have made their captain depressed. In the past few days he had been late and it looked like he forgot to shave sometimes. Ford was very worried, so after he came on shift he immediately went to the captain and asked what was wrong. 

Bridger looked surprised that Ford had asked. He shook his head to indicate nothing, then returned to his stupor. Just then Kristen walked in.   
  
"Nathan, have you seen Lucas? I cannot find him anywhere…" Kristen trailed off as he saw most of the crew listening to the conversation. She then took a closer look at Bridger. "Nathan, you look awful!" She said tactlessly. Tim and Miguel tried to cover up their laughing with coughing. Katie flashed them a look that stopped them. She was concerned for her captain.   
  
Bridger looked at Kristen in surprise. "He didn't tell you?" He looked around the rest of the bridge and saw the crew listening. "He didn't tell any of you?"   
  
"Nathan, didn't tell us what?" Kristen asked in confusion. The rest of the crew had the same look.   
  
"Lucas. He left." At everyone surprised looks, he asked again. "Lucas didn't tell any of you he left?"   
  
"What do you mean left?" Kristen demanded.   
  
Bridger looked very surprised. No one had any clue what he was talking about.   
  
"Lucas's father called a few days ago. When Krieg made the supply run, Lucas caught a ride and flew to Barcelona to be with his dad for a month.   


"A month!" Kristen gasped. "Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't you tell me?!" She said starting to get angry with Bridger.   
  
Bridger held up his hands in defense. "I thought he would tell everyone on his own, it wasn't a big secret. I didn't know he hadn't told anyone. He really didn't tell anyone?" Bridger asked, directing the question to the listening crew. Everyone shook their heads. They were just as surprised as Kristen had been. Why hadn't Lucas told them?   
___   
  
Lucas walked down towards the beach in Barcelona. He was angry. He had been in Barcelona for a week and his father had spent no time with him. It was just like the old days; Lucas was left alone in whatever house Lawrence had rented for him. Lawrence worked practically 24 hours a day and if he did get a break, he would sleep in the lab instead of wasting time and going home. Lucas sat down heavily on the beach with his sandals next to him. He had had a good time by himself at first; the house was right on the beach and near town, but not knowing anyone or any Spanish, it got lonely after awhile. He called seaQuest a few times, but didn't want to bother them too often. Whenever he called, he remembered everyone there and then he just yearned to go back. During one call the captain asked him why he didn't tell the rest of the crew that he was leaving. Lucas had only shrugged; he didn't even know why he didn't tell his friends he was leaving. Lucas felt something crinkle in his pants as he moved his leg. They were the pants he had been wearing when he left seaQuest. Out of them he pulled the papers that he wanted to talk to his father about, which wouldn't likely be soon. Lucas sighed then folded the papers back up and stuffed them in his pocket.   
  
Lawrence walked down the beach to the figure sitting near the water. He felt bad. He had thought his project for the Barcelona Government Officials was done, but they wanted more, so the project got 3 more months added on to its original finish date. He had been sincere when he told Lucas he wanted to see him and work on their relationship, but now was the worst time and Lawrence had only seen Lucas once since he arrived. He gave him plenty of money and had rented a nice house for him, but he knew it wasn't enough.   
  
Lucas looked up, surprised, as the figure approached. He scrambled up to stand next to him.   
  
"Hey dad, didn't expect to see you." Lawrence sighed.   
  
"I know. I'm sorry Lucas; it's just this project…" At that he saw Lucas's shoulders sag; another project…   
  
"I understand dad." Lucas said sadly as sat he sat back down on the sand.   
  
"No Lucas, you don't. What I told you on the vid was true. I do want us to be closer, but…" Lawrence trailed off, not sure what to say.   
  
"But you have no time…Dad, do want what's best for me?" Lucas asked deciding to take the plunge.   
  
Lawrence's eyes widened. "Of course I do. I always do, you should know that." Lawrence trailed off again. He had not given Lucas the best when his mother kidnapped him.   
  
Lucas pulled out the papers and handed them to his dad. Lawrence gasped when he saw what they were.   
  
"Are you sure Lucas?" He asked gravely, even though he knew the answer.   
  
Then, looking in his father's eyes, he said, "It's what's best."   
  
Lawrence then nodded and signed the papers with a shaking hand. He handed them back to Lucas who stood. Lawrence stood next to him and was surprised when Lucas gave him a hug. He returned the hug and heard Lucas whisper, "thanks." Lawrence turned and walked back to the house as Lucas sat back on the beach.   
  
Lucas sat by himself for a while thinking about what had just happened. Maybe I'll go back to seaQuest early; I've gotta talk to Bridger. Lucas smiled for what felt like the first time in days. He was just about to get up when a helmet of some kind slammed down on his head. The helmet covered his eyes and a gag came across his mouth. He tried to push the helmet off but someone was already securing it on. Someone grabbed his arms and handcuffed them behind his back. His face was shoved into the sand and he could feel sand go up his nose. He tried to snort it out. A rope was attached to the top of the helmet and Lucas felt himself being pulled along. He struggled to stop and it almost worked until his captor pulled as hard as he could and Lucas could feel his neck muscles practically being pulled out their sockets. Lucas struggled to his feet to relieve the pressure in his neck and allowed himself to be led along.   
  
Within a few minutes, they reached their destination. Lucas was shoved into a van and his helmet was hooked to the top of it. He was left to keep the rest of his body balanced. Balancing his body turned out to be a harder task then he expected. The roads they took twisted and turned, went up and down and were full of holes. Lucas was wrenched from one side to the other and felt his neck muscles straining against the helmet and the pull of his body.   
  
Finally they stopped and Lucas heard the back door open. He tried to back up as far as he could go, but it was no use. He heard some snickering, then rough hands grabbed his arms and held him still. He felt a needle penetrate his skin, its contents going into his bloodstream. He whimpered and they laughed again. Whatever had been in the needle was fast acting and soon Lucas felt himself drift off into never-never land.   
____   
  
Lucas woke up to the sound off engines pushing off. He recognized the sound of them and vibrations they made. He was on a submarine. How did that happen? He tried to remember what happened last but it was hazy from the drug he had been given. He tried to move and get some blood flowing back into his arms. He found he couldn't move. He was strapped down face first to the cold floor. He still had the helmet on, but his arms were spread out on the floor strapped down. He pulled to see how strong the bonds were and found they were metal and there was no use to see if they would move.   
  
Lucas lay breathing hard, trying not to hyperventilate, it was not working. Who would do this? Why now? Hadn't he been through enough? Lucas wasn't sure he could take it again, not after everything his mother had put him through. Lucas drifted in and out of conscious for what seemed like forever. He couldn't remember how long he had been their or how many times he had awakened. All he knew was that he was hungry and had to go to the bathroom. One time Lucas woke, he found his clothes were gone and he was only in his boxers, the room was colder, as was the floor.   
  
Finally he heard noises, he didn't know whether it was a good thing someone was coming or bad. It turned out to be bad. He heard footsteps enter the room and stop nearby him. The gag was taken out of his mouth and Lucas swallowed to get rid of the dryness, to no avail. Finally water was sprayed in, and some stale pieces of bread followed. It was eerie, this is what happened when his mother kidnapped him. After he swallowed he asked:   
  
"Who are you? Why are you doing this? Where are we?" He rasped.   
  
The man laughed and said nothing. Lucas heard the door open and close, he knew he was alone again.   
__   
  
"Nathan, did you hear the good news?" Kristen asked as she entered Bridger's quarters without knocking.   
  
Bridger looked up amused from his book, he was glad Kristen felt comfortable enough to come and go as she pleased. "What? Darwin didn't splash you when you fed him?"   
  
"Yeah like that will ever happen!" She said laughing. "No, but the news is about Darwin and Lucas."   
  
"Really, do tell." He was intrigued now.   
  
"Well, I got a call from Washington and they want Lucas to give a presentation about the vocorder. They want to introduce it to the world!"   
  
"You think the world is ready? Do you think Lucas is ready?" Bridger asked concerned, the vocorder still had bugs that needed to be worked out.   
  
"Actually they said it all depends on Lucas if he is ready."   
  
"Well that is…nice, usually it's tell and do."   
  
"Call Lucas! I want to hear what he has to say!" Kristen said excitedly.   
  
Bridger laughed and reached for the vid-phone. "Give me a few minutes."   
  
Within a minute's time, he had the vid ringing for Lawrence's lab. Kristen and Bridger were both surprised when Lawrence himself answered the vid. He came on smiling.   
  
"Well, Nathan I believe congratulations is in order."   
  
"For what?" Nathan said confused, but smiling back.   
  
"For What!?? Lucas hasn't told you? Where is he? I can't believe he would keep you in suspense! He got back about, what, a day ago?" Lawrence said in disbelief, thinking Lucas was there but just not telling anyone what had happened on the beach.   
  
"What are you talking about! Lucas is not back! He's still with you. Right?" Kristen said her accent getting more noticeable as her voice rose a notch.   
  
Now Lawrence looked confused. "No, Lucas and I talked and afterward he left. I never saw him. I assumed he went back to seaQuest." Lawrence was starting to panic.   
  
"What? You knew he left and did not tell us! When did he leave? Did he leave a note? Anything?" Bridger questioned. He was getting angry that Lawrence had not told them sooner, even though he knew it was Lucas who would have called when he left anyway.   
  
No, no nothing. I haven't even been to the house. I tried calling their a few times when I knew he would be home and I sent a man over to check it out and he said no one had been there in a couple days. But he only checked the outside, the house was locked up." Then as an afterthought he added. "I'm going to check right now. I'll get back to you when I get to the house." With that Lawrence severed the connection leaving Bridger and Kristen still staring at the screen.   
  
"Please tell me nothing happened to him. I don't think Lucas could take it or me." Kristen said almost in tears.   
  
Nathan wrapped her in his arms and comforted her. "I'm sure he's fine he probably didn't answer the phone, you know how his relationship is with his father."   
__

  
Lucas squirmed to get free of his bindings, but it was no use. Hours later, a man entered and began pulling things out of a case. One of the instruments was a scalpel, the rest were wire. Lucas noticed that none of them touched each other, until the man made them and when they did, they sparked.   
  
The man pulled up Lucas's shirt, revealing his back. Lucas couldn't move an inch. The man picked up the scalpel and smiled at Lucas. He then pressed the scalpel into Lucas's back at the base of the spine. Lucas's mouth was still gagged, so his scream was muffled. The man just laughed and continued to cut a small hole in Lucas's back. When he made it deep enough in, he picked up the wires and inserted them into Lucas's back, securing then to whatever he could find. Then he wrapped the other end of the wires to Lucas's legs. After he was down he wrapped a dirty patch around Lucas's back and untied his feet. Lucas had long since passed out. The man smiled and left.   
  
Lucas woke a few hours later, the pain in his back had dulled considerably. He tried to shift a little, when he realized his feet were no longer tied down. He bended his knees to relieve some pain in his back. He didn't know the wires were tied to his legs. He lifted his legs up and the wires touched. Lucas had never felt such pain. When the wires touched they sparked, sending up waves of pain through his spine into his brain. Lucas lay there breathing hard for a few minutes. He passed out again.   
  
Every couple hours or days someone would come in and check on him. If he didn't answer the wires would touch. They fed him bread and water or whatever they had lying around. Other times they turned off the environmental controls so the heat escaped and the air was thin. He still did not know who had kidnapped him, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know.   
  
Lucas did not give up like last time he was kidnapped. He waited for seaQuest to come and he knew they would. Bridger would not let him die.   
__   
Three weeks passed and no word from Lucas, he had just disappeared. Lawrence called when he reached the house to report that all of Lucas's clothes were still there but Lucas never came back. Lawrence was positive Lucas hadn't run away. Not after the papers he had signed, which he didn't tell anyone about.   
  
Aboard seaQuest things were changing. They couldn't help look for Lucas because of the fighting over the Macronesian border. The police threw the case into the runaway pile and never pursued it. None of the crew gave up hope that Lucas was alive. Bridger shut back down. He put up his walls around his heart and mind, like he did on the island after Robert and Carol died. After all the work Lucas and Kristen did to take them down, they were reinforced within the first week. Everyone noticed the change in the captain and the change soon happened in the doctor too. Soon everyone kept to themselves and went on with their business. The seaQuest was no longer what it used to be.   
  
"Sir, we are entering a highly volcanic area." Ford relayed to Bridger.   
  
"Is a change in course need, Mr. Ford?" Bridger asked back.   
  
"No sir, I think we should slow down for better maneuvering capability. There are a lot of towers out there."   
  
"Make it so." Bridger ordered, then turned back to his console. The bridge was eerily quiet, but that was the way it should be.   
__   
  
Lucas felt a loud bang and the sub shuddered and stopped. He knew they had hit something. Great, now we sink! He heard footsteps in the hall. It was the pilot of the boat talking to his captor.   
  
"We hit some rocks, we are sinking. We should contact the seaQuest, we need their help." The man stated simply.   
  
"No." Came the reply. "We have been lying underneath seaQuest for 3 weeks and they have never known it. All this time we have had what they are looking for right under their noses. We are not contacting them! That is an order! We have come to far."   
  
The man mumbled back then walked away. He didn't care what she said he was calling the seaQuest. He did not want to die out here this way.   
  
Lucas heard the door open. "Well son, I guess I better finish up what I came to do." His mother laughed then closed the door behind her.   
__   
  
A few hours later O'Neill turned to Bridger. "Sir, we have a distress signal coming in."   
  
Bridger looked surprised, there were no other ships in the vicinity. "Coordinates, Mr. O'Neill?"   
  
"Sir, they are right underneath us…" O'Neill trailed off seeing the surprised looks on everyone's faces.   
  
"How long have they been there and how have we not known they were there?" Bridger demanded.   
  
"From what I can tell captain they used a cloaking device, so sonar couldn't pick them up, but I don't know how Junior or Mother didn't see them." Ortiz answered for O'Neill.   
  
Bridger nodded. "What seems to be their problem, O'Neill?"   
  
"They hit some rocks, sir. Seems only minimal damage, but they are sinking."   
  
Bridger got on the comm and told Crocker to take a sub over. The bridge crew waited and watched as their sub docked with the other one.   
____  
Lucas couldn't believe it was his mother…again. "Mom, how did you get out of jail, why do you keep doing this?" He rasped.   
  
"Because sweetheart, I have not ruined your life or your captain's but I will fix that now." She walked over and untied the wires from his legs. Then she pulled then out of his back.   
  
Lucas could feel blood pouring out the hole. Next, his mother undid his metal bonds. Lucas sat up weakly and scrambled away.   
  
"Kind of cold in here isn't it son?" She was referring to Lucas's chattering teeth and blue lips. The helmet was off so he would see and speak.   
  
Cynthia sighed like she was bored then pulled out a handgun from an ankle strap. "I better get this over with. I'm sure the cowards have contacted seaQuest to come rescue them. They don't realize how much trouble they are in. Kidnapping the famous Lucas Wolenczak and having the seaQuest come get them is the worst thing they could do. But what do I care? I will be long gone." She raised the gun. "Do you know hat it is like to get shot in the stomach Lucas? It's not the best feeling in the world. You will soon know." She smiled wickedly and raised the gun.   
  
Lucas felt the impact of the bullet hit and rip through his stomach. He felt it exit near the whole already in his back. He looked up at his mother, with hate flowing out of his eyes. He was shocked to see conflict in his mother's eyes. She was not herself any more. She was crazy, he could see it in her eyes. She was not there any more. This was not his mother. His mother had died long ago. All that was left was her shell, which wanted to hurt him.   
  
Just then the sub ran into more rocks. Cynthia flew against the wall and the gun slid across the room near Lucas. Lucas gazed at it, so did Cynthia. She lunged for it, but Lucas got it first.   
  
She smiled at him. "What are you going to do son? Kill me? I don't think so." She started to walk towards him.   
  
Lucas arm started to shake, he wished seaQuest would get here and take over for him.   
  
'No!' His mind screamed. 'I must finish this now, or she'll never go away.' With that Lucas steadied his arm, he saw his mother pause. He fired three shots. All into the chest. His mother flew back and hit the opposite wall. Lucas watched her slide down, he saw her fingers twitch. He knew he had to send her all the way to hell, so she could never come back. He fired once more.   
  
He felt all his strength draining away, he looked at the gun in his hand. He threw it away from him, he watched as it flew in slow motion to the other side of the room, before it hit the ground he passed out.   
__   
  
Crocker and his security team docked and made there way cautiously to the bridge. They encountered no one on the way. When they reached the bridge a minute later, the four crewmen stood and raised their arms in surrender.   
  
Crocker looked at his men then back to the others. "You don't need to raise those arms unless you know you did something wrong."   
  
The men exchanged looks with each other but kept their arms up.   
  
Crocker looked surprised but took it all in stride. "Mr. Shan, take these men to seaQuest and to the brig. Send another shuttle back." Shan nodded and led the men out.   
  
Crocker and a few others stayed behind and waited for the other shuttle. They heard the ship groan from the back. "We better see the damage." Crocker said walking off to check it out. Two men followed.   
__   
  
  
"Cap?" Crocker said over his PAL to Bridger.   
  
"Yes, Chief?" Came the slow reply.   
  
"You'd better send a medical team here pronto and you might want to come along too."   
  
"Why what did you find? Are the injuries serious?" Bridger said asking the standard questions.   
  
"Major injuries, I think one is dead, but Lucas still has a pulse."   
  
"A med.-team is on the way…Did you say Lucas?" Bridger asked trailing off in mid-sentence.   
  
"Yeah, it's him, Cap. Don't look to good, he's lost a lot of blood."   
  
I'll be down in the launch bay, don't let him die, Chief." Bridger left the bridge at a run, finally some hope.   
  
Bridger arrived at the launch bay a few moments later. Kristen was waiting by the hatch berating herself for staying behind. When Crocker had called for a med-team, she did not think it was serious, so she sent Dr. Levin. Ford had called her on her PAL to let her know what was happening. So there she stood as Nathan ran into the launch bay. He bent over wheezing as he tried to catch his breath. He saw Kristen and their eyes met before hers turned away with hurt shining in them. 

They waited with baited breath as the hatch to the launch slowly opened. Crocker and a few of his men exited carrying a stretcher. Laying on it was Lucas. He was pale and had blood in his hair and on his face. They could not see the extent of the injuries because of the sheet over him. Dr. Levin took charge as soon as they entered the sub, ordering Lucas to med-bay. They ran off to perform surgery before it was too late. Bridger stood in shock as they rushed away. Crocker watched him then signaled his men to get back to work. The next stretcher they brought out caught Bridger's interest. It was Cynthia. She had a sheet covering her from head to toe. Bridger pulled back the sheet and gasped in surprise. He also thought she was in jail. Her skin was waxy and she was no longer bleeding, though her clothes were covered in her blood. Bridger looked at Crocker for an explanation. 

Crocker shrugged his shoulders. He did not want to tell Bridger what he saw, but he had too. "She has three bullet holes in her chest and one in the head, directly in the middle." 

"Who did it Chief? Who killed her?" Bridger asked in alarm. 

"I'm not sure, Cap. When we got there she was already dead and Lucas was across from her, out cold. The gun was opposite of both of them. We have the weapon and I'm going to fingerprint it and see if any of this makes sense. What I don't get is that she was already dead from the three shots in the chest. Why shoot her again in the head? Whoever did it is a pretty good marksman. The wound is directly in the middle." With that Crocker and his men carried Cynthia to the small morgue they had abroad ship. 

Bridger stood in the launch bay a few more minutes trying to absorb what happened. Then he turned and went to med-bay. 

Five hours later, Bridger sat in med-bay with Ben, Katie, and Tim while Kristen paced in front of them. Levin had ordered her out saying she was to close to the patient. She was furious and was still working off her steam as Levin appeared. He held up his hands to stop the questions he knew that were coming. 

Before he could begin Ben interrupted. "Is his heart beating?"

Levin looked confused and nodded, but Ben continued.

"Is he breathing?" 

"Yes…" Levin trailed off, still confused.

"Well, we can be thankful for small miracles." Ben finished. 

The rest of the crew smiled in response and Katie covered her mouth with her hand as she teared up. She couldn't believe what came out of her ex-husband's mouth sometimes, even though they had been married she couldn't believe the sweetest things he said.

Levin smiled but continued with his initial information.

"He made it through surgery. He had a bullet wound to his stomach and we had to remove his spleen. He also had a…" Levin didn't know how to describe this part, "hole in his back, like something was put in then pulled out. We had to paralyze him to fix it. His middle fingers are broken, the right wrist is sprained, and he was slightly hypothermic, so we had to raise his body temperature a few degrees. I am not saying anything definite for now: he is still in the woods, especially with the stomach and back wounds, but I am optimistic." 

A week went by with no movement from Lucas, but with all the drugs in his system Kristen and Levin were not surprised. Bridger remained by Lucas' bedside as much as he could, only breaking to command seaQuest a while, but he never left if it wasn't an emergency. 

Nathan woke when he heard someone enter the room. It was Kristen; she had came to check Lucas' vitals. She had convinced Levin that she was still a doctor, and could help care for Lucas. He agreed that she could help. Knowing Lucas as she did it made it easier for her to know she was doing something to help him. 

Nathan watched as she did her work. 

"I'm so sorry, Kristen. I didn't mean to push you away. Just when I needed you the most I turned away. I'm so sorry. If you don't forgive me I understand, but I had to say my piece." While he said this, Kristen had turned away. When she turned back, he could see tears shining in her eyes. 

"Nathan… I... I understand. It was hard on you: it was hard on all of us. But if you react this way every time something like this happens, I don't know if I can…" She turned away. She had missed him and Lucas so much. 

Bridger made his way around the bed and circled his arms around her. "I promise Kristen. I will never do anything like that again, and hopefully this guy won't either," he cracked as Kristen laughed and wiped her tears. 

"Come on, let's go get some breakfast. You have not been eating hardly anything, and Lucas does not need you looking like a skeleton when he wakes," Kristen scolded. 

"But I don't want to leave him. What if he wakes up while I'm gone?"

"Nathan, don't worry. He won't wake for another few days, and Dr. Levin is here. So is Nurse Bar. There is nothing to worry about." Kristen said gently as she kissed him on the lips. 

Nathan sighed. "Fine, but let's hurry." The two left, leaving Lucas alone. 

A few minutes later Dr. Levin called Nurse Bar into the lab to assist him. She closed the hatch behind them, thus blocking all hearing and sight of Lucas. 

Lucas felt pain. That was the first thing that came to his senses. He slowly opened his eyes as the pain dulled. He looked around at the small sterile room. Where was everyone? What had happened? Lucas lifted his hands and arms to check the damage. He then tried to move his legs, but nothing happened. So he tried to move his hips, but again nothing happened. Why couldn't he move his legs? Where was the captain? What was going on? Did they leave him alone again? Was his mother right all along? Was he not wanted? Questions raced through Lucas' mind. His breathing quickened as the questions kept coming till they blurred into one. Soon he couldn't breathe at all. His mind wouldn't stop playing images from the past three weeks before his eyes. It soon became an endless vision of blood. Lucas watched in horror until he finally passed out. The last question on his mind was why didn't anyone hear the monitors go off? 

A half-hour later Bridger and Kristen came back into Lucas' room. Nathan took his usual seat next to Lucas and took his hand into his own. Kristen went about rechecking Lucas' monitors to keep her mind off battered Lucas. She gasped when she got to the most recent readings. 

Nathan immediately went to her side. "What is it, Kris?" 

"I…I think he woke up." Kristen said with her hand over her mouth. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Look, here it shows normal readings, heart, brain waves, stress levels and so on. But here at 1000 hours his readings were off the chart! I think he woke up and found he couldn't move and panicked. Wouldn't you if you found you couldn't move?" Kristen speculated as Nathan listened with an open mouth. 

"I shouldn't have left him. If he woke up alone all his fears would have seemingly come true. He was injured and all alone." Kristen could tell that Bridger was beyond listening, so she left him with Lucas and went to find Dr. Levin, fully intending to give the man a firm chewing out.

Bridger stayed with Lucas nonstop after that, never leaving his side. Kristen brought him food and made him sleep in a makeshift bed but if he didn't get real rest soon, she was afraid he was going to collapse. 

____

Ford was the last to enter the last minute meeting that Kristen had initiated. Ford was surprised to see Katie, Ben, Miguel, Tim, Cyndi, Dr. Levin, and Kristen all waiting for him. 

"What's this about Kristen? What's the big emergency? I left Ensign Mars in charge." Ford said. 

"Jonathan, please have a seat. This is all strictly voluntary, if any of you want to leave at any time you are more then welcome." 

"Kristen, what is it?" Katie asked sincerely. She hadn't seen Kristen this worried since Lucas was first missing. 

"Is there something wrong with Lucas?" Cyndi asked, worried, as she gripped Tim's hand. 

"Where's the captain?" Asked Jonathan, still a little disturbed that Kristen was running this meeting. 

"This meeting is about both of them. We think Lucas woke up." Cyndi gasped in delight, but Kristen held up her hand to silence the incoming questions. "Nathan and I were out of the room when it happened, so Lucas woke up alone and of course he was still paralyzed. The readings show he hyperventilated. This could have been the result of a number of things, but I think just waking up alone could have done it. Of course Nathan blames himself and has not left the room, as you all have noticed. I'm worried Nathan will collapse if he doesn't rest properly. So what I am asking…what I am asking all of you is to volunteer some of your time to sit with Lucas. I want someone with him at all times. I also want Nathan not to have to be there all the time. He needs to get back some normalcy." Kristen stopped as her eyes watered up. "I'm sorry, I'm just so worried about the both of them." She whispered. As she sat down, Katie put her arm around her to comfort her. 

"I'll make a schedule to go along with regular duties. That way we won't overlap nor have a time when no one can be there. That is, if everyone in thisroom volunteers…" Ford trailed off when he found everyone staring at him. "…What_?" _

Kristen cleared her throat. "That would be wonderful, Commander." 

Everyone made suggestions about times that they could volunteer and soon only Ford and Hitchcock were left. 

"What?" He asked when he looked up from the rough draft of the schedule to see Katie smiling at him. 

"Nothing, I just think that was very nice of you to volunteer your time to do all this. I mean, you already make the bridge schedule." 

"Hey, this is Lucas. I'd do anything to help him, and the same goes for the captain. Now, when do you want to help?" he asked, smiling. 

__ 

The captain was finally convinced to go back to his quarters and start back on duty once he saw the outpouring of concern and help coming from the senior staff. He was still the one who sat by Lucas's side the most, but he had resumed normal sleeping and eating habits so that Kristen was content. Nathan knew what she had done, and to tell the truth he was grateful. As long as Lucas had someone nearby, he felt good enough to leave. 

Four days later, Bridger took over from Ben for his shift to sit with Lucas. Ben finished describing the movie he had watched a few days ago to Lucas, then left. Bridger smiled as he listened to the lieutenant. He was sure that Krieg would not watch a movie that ended with a bunny finding his mother after a snowstorm. Ben grimaced as he passed Bridger and saw the grin. He had to do some fast thinking to change the story he was telling Lucas. He was sure Bridger knew and would not believe what he said, but… Nathan took the seat vacated by Krieg and made himself comfortable. He had taken the night shift. He knew the crew was getting tired. They worked all day keeping peace at the Macronesian border. Then they sat with Lucas at night. It was not good to have a tired crew, especially now when anything could happen. Nathan found himself smiling in spite of the situation. He found it heartwarming that the senior staff had come to Lucas' aid, and to his own.

Bridger sat by Lucas' side not saying much until he decided that one way Lucas would come back to them would be to hear what he was missing. So Bridger began to talk about the last five weeks and how everything had changed. He choked up a few times, but he held it together. 

"…Even Cocker has come down to sit with you, as well as Commander Ford. I'm sure Ben has kept you up to speed on what's going outside the ship, but its not nearly as interesting as what's going on inside…" 

Lucas smiled as he listened to the captain talk. It was good to hear someone's voice. He felt like he had been in limbo forever. Lucas opened his eyes and looked around. All he could see was white, which he guessed was the ceiling. Once he looked down, he was surprised to see his body lying on the bed with Bridger still talking to him and holding his hand. Lucas looked back up and saw a bright, white light. He was slowly drifting towards it. Suddenly everything exploded around him. He could feel heart stop and his body shut down. Then the alarms hooked to him went off. 

Nathan jumped at the sounds that started emitting from the heart monitor. As it dawned on him what was happening, he slowly backed up until he hit the wall. Kristen, Dr. Levin, and three nurses ran in seconds later and started CPR. Kristen got out the paddles and shouted "Clear!" Lucas's body jumped in the bed then fell back, still lifeless. Kristen repeated her actions with the paddles. This time the heart monitor took longer to register.

As Lucas watched, he felt the electric jolts through his body. The light was so inviting and the pain was getting less as he moved towards it. Lucas turned to get one last look at his body and his life, and his gaze stopped when he saw the captain. Bridger was as far back as the wall would let him go, his face ghostly pale. He was repeating, "no, no" quietly.

Lucas stopped moving towards the light. He couldn't let something else happen to the captain: the man had been through enough. As Lucas felt the second jolt, he glanced at the light one last time and headed back to his battered body.

Kristen, Dr. Levin and the nurses all breathed a sigh of relief as Lucas's heartbeat picked back up. They all smiled and began to clean all the instruments they had used on him. Dr. Levin caught Kristen's hand and nodded his head to Nathan. Kristen turned and saw him still backed against the wall, now leaning against it, with his head down. She could see tears glistening down his cheeks. Kristen nodded at Levin. He motioned to the nurses and they left, shutting the door behind them.

Kristen made her way over to Nathan quietly, still keeping her eye on Lucas. She did not want him to pull another stunt like that. 

"Nathan…" She trailed off when she got no response.

"Nathan, he's fine now. He just wanted to give us a little scare, that's all." She was still getting no response, so she put her arms around him and let him lean into her. As soon as his head hit her shoulder she felt the tears soak through her lab coat. She had been waiting for this ever since Lucas had been kidnapped. She guided him back over to the chair he had vacated and sat him down. He pulled her onto his lap and took Lucas's hand in his free one.

They sat like that for a while until Nathan felt a slight movement under his hand. Kristen had fallen asleep and so had he, almost. He dismissed the first tremor, but when it repeated he sat up, almost causing Kristen to tumble off his lap. 

"What…?" Kristen said, dazed as she struggled to wake up.

She stopped when she saw Nathan staring at his hand, which was covering Lucas'. Kristen got up and went to the other side of the bed. 

"Lucas?" She whispered. She was rewarded with a small moan. She covered her mouth as she saw Lucas turn his head and open his eyes.

"Lucas…" Nathan said as he saw Lucas's eyes focus on his.

Lucas nodded and smiled, but said nothing. Kristen had tears running down her cheeks. Lucas reached over with his good hand and reached out for hers. She let out a sob, reached down, and hugged Lucas for all it was worth.

"Lucas, it's been so long." She sobbed.

"I know." Lucas said, with his voice scratchy and barely audible. 

Nathan grabbed some water and pried Lucas out of Kristen's arms. "Here, kiddo." He helped Lucas sit up then lowered him back down onto the pillows. "Rest now. You don't want to over-do it."

Lucas nodded and was practically asleep by the time his head hit the pillow.

Nathan and Kristen smiled and embraced each other. They both had tears in their eyes when they separated. 

__

"I'm going to tell the rest of the crew, I know they have been waiting for this news for a long time." Kristen nodded as Nathan left the room. She turned back to Lucas to wait for him to wake again.

Bridger was surprised when he stepped out of Lucas' room. Tim, Ben, and Crocker were all outside. They jumped when he came out, their faces full of questions. Bridger saw behind them a vid-link was on directly linked to the bridge. Ford, Katie, Miguel and Cyndi were all crowded around the screen.

Ben was the first to talk. "Sir…we heard Lucas…we heard Lucas..." It was the farthest Ben could get before he was too choked up, he had heard Lucas' heart had stopped, the kid couldn't let go. Not now.

"Ben, he is fine, in fact he just woke up! He even talked a little." Bridger said, barely containing his excitement. With those words spoken Ben whooped and hugged Tim, and Crocker patted Nathan on the back before he hugged Tim and Ben all together. On the bridge Ford was hugging Katie, while Miguel and Cyndi were dancing. Bridger laughed and quieted them down.

"I can't thank you guys enough. You have shown extraordinary…" Nathan trailed off, as he couldn't think of a word that defined this crew.

"Cap, we all understand. Lucas has become a little brother to everyone on this sub. No matter what, we will be here for him…and for you." Crocker summed it up the best he could. When he finished he saw the rest of the crew was nodding along.

Nathan smiled, holding back tears, and went back into Lucas' room.

_____

It had been a week since Lucas had woken up. The crew still took turns sitting by Lucas' bed. Each got a different story from Lucas. Only Nathan and Kristen heard about the light he saw when his heart stopped. The rest heard about the time in Spain before the kidnapping. No one as of yet had heard the events during the kidnapping itself. Lucas was unusually quiet during most visits; he was content to just sit and listen to whoever was with him. 

When Ben came to sit with Lucas, he was happy to hear Lucas ask for his computer. At least it showed Lucas was interested in something again. Usually he would just listen to people talk until he fell asleep. 

Ben retrieved Lucas' computer as soon as he could. Lawrence had sent over all of Lucas' belongings after Lucas had been found. As soon as the laptop was in hand, Lucas began to type furiously. He didn't stop unless told. No one knew what he was writing and Lucas did not tell anyone, so they let it slide as something he had to do.

__

Late one night Nathan was sitting by Lucas' side when Crocker entered.

"What can I do for you, Chief?" 

"Oh, he's asleep. I just thought that when he gets out he would want a pair of pants."

Nathan gave Crocker a confused look but excepted the pants. He recognized them as the pair Lucas had worn when he first left to go to Barcelona. Nathan set them next to Lucas's bed and returned to his chair.

Crocker walked out of the room smiling. He knew what was in the pants' pocket. He had searched them after Lucas had been found. He hoped Lucas would do something about the papers soon.

Nathan sat by Lucas' bed for a few more minutes until he became restless. He paced around the room like he was waiting for something to happen. On his 10th pass by the bed he saw Lucas' laptop on the floor under the bed. Nathan picked it up and lifted the top. A box was blinking on the screen.

__

Do you want to open your file?

Yes No

Bridger glanced at Lucas, who was still sound asleep, and pushed "yes." The file opened immediately. Bridger saw it was over thirty pages long. He looked at the beginning and realized that it was a journal. It started right after Lucas left the Seaquest. It seemed as if Lucas had been keeping the journal on his laptop for a long time, but whether was split into sections or into months, Bridger was not sure. First the story went with what was happening at the time, from Lucas opening his pictures from Nathan, to being bored in Spain. When it came to the fifth page and the events involving the kidnapping, it was all remembrance, of course. From then on it was very detailed. Lucas was a great writer. For being a math and computer major he definitely could have majored in English also.

Bridger got more and more engrossed as he read on, wincing when he read about the "helmet" or being strapped down to the floor. He felt tears come to his eyes when he read about the wires. Lucas wrote in such great detail that Nathan felt he was there, feeling Lucas's pain along with him. He reached up and squeezed Lucas's hand to reassure Lucas and himself that everything was all right now. He was surprised when Lucas squeezed back. Nathan looked up and saw Lucas watching him. 

"Oh, Lucas I thought you were sleeping." He looked down at the laptop and blushed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…"

Lucas sighed. "No Captain, finish. I don't want to be the only one to know what happened, and it's the only way I can tell you."

"Are you sure?"

Lucas sighed again and nodded. 

Bridger nodded back and continued, all the while holding tightly to Lucas' hand. When he came to the ending where Lucas described the sub hitting the rocks and sinking, Bridger looked up once more, this time with tears ready to overflow. Lucas nodded once more and Bridger resumed his reading. 

When he finished he closed the file and wiped his eyes. He did not know what to say, so he got up and hugged Lucas the best he could. Lucas snuggled into him and moved over so Bridger could fit on the bed too. Bridger sat and made himself comfortable with Lucas leaning on him, and with that they both fell asleep. Lucas was feeling much better having someone else knowing everything that had happened, while Bridger felt sad and heavy, not knowing what to do to help Lucas. It would have to wait until morning. 

__

Lucas had been in med-bay for a week and a half now. He had full use of his legs, and he was eating regular food (if you called what they ate on seaQuest regular food). He still had someone with him at all times, but he was surprised when Katie left and Crocker came in. He had not seen Crocker at all since he had returned. 

"I don't know if the Cap told you or not, but I brought your pants in…I saw what was in the pocket and I think you should do it, kid, and soon." With that, Crocker turned and left, leaving Kristen in the doorway wondering what had happened. 

Lucas sat quietly all day, typing on and off. Kristen, Cyndi, and Ben sat with him throughout the day, doing work of their own. 

Lucas waited until that night when Bridger took his shift. When Bridger entered, he saw Lucas glance at him, then turn away with a look of confusion on his face. He had a great idea and he was sure Lucas would like it too. 

"Come on, Lucas. Let's go." He helped Lucas out of bed and into a wheelchair. Kristen had removed all the IV's earlier that day, so he was free of tubes. When they reached the launch bay Nathan, helped Lucas out of the wheelchair and they walked slowly over to the doors. When they opened, Lucas was surprised to see they were docked. He looked at Bridger curiously, but allowed himself to be led out. 

"Why are we docked, Captain?"

"After you came abroad, we left the Macronesian border with a few scrapes and bruises, so we had to stop and get repairs. Nothing major, so there was no reason for leaves or time off. I thought someone told you."

Lucas looked out to the ocean. The sun was still setting and it was a beautiful sight. The captain stopped walking a few meters from the boat. Lucas eased down to the sand. He was tired from the short walk. Bridger followed suit, sitting next to Lucas and letting the breeze wash over them. They were silent for a few minutes until Bridger spoke.

"Lucas, what's on your mind? I saw the look on your face when I came in. Something's bothering you, and I want to know what. I brought you out here so we could have some privacy."

Lucas looked at the Captain, then pulled out the papers that were in his sweatpants pocket. 

"Captain, I don't know how to say this…I've been thinking about it for a while, and I thought a lot about it when I was…gone, but I still can't think of the proper way to ask. Here goes… Captain…would you be my…father?" Lucas gave Bridger the papers then looked down too afraid to see how Nathan would react.

Bridger sat stunned. He glanced at the papers and saw that Lawrence had already signed them. All that had to be done was the addition of his signature. He felt tears well up in his eyes again. He glanced to see Lucas' face and he was surprised when he saw tears in Lucas' eyes. His head was down low with a sad look. Bridger put his hand under Lucas' chin and lifted his head until their eyes were level.

"Lucas I'd be honored…I don't know what to say…do I get a ring with this engagement?" He laughed, which put Lucas at ease. Lucas' face turned from disappointment to sheer happiness. He jumped and hugged Bridger hard. Bridger could feel the tears soaking his clothes. He hugged the kid back, feeling happier than he had in a long time.

The two sat out talking until the sun went all the way down and the stars were out.

"I think we better go back in, kiddo. Kristen will kill me when she finds you're gone." Bridger said, ruffling Lucas' hair and helping him stand.

"Your right, she will freak. Thank you, Captain, for everything."

"I think you're going to have to think of a different name for me…son."

Lucas smiled as they headed back to the seaQuest.


End file.
